On occasion I have been asked, “How do you know these things?”.  My response, “I read a lot”.  Additionally, I’ve always been detail oriented, asked lots of questions, and wanted to know why.  I spent 35 of 40 post graduate working years in the classroom and in or on some sort of athletic facility.  I wanted my students to read a lot.  I wanted my students to be detail oriented, to ask lots of questions, and want to know why.  I wanted my students to question everything and to make up their own minds.  I always presented my students with options and stressed that they needed to think through choices before making decisions regarding those choices because many options could be or would be in conflict with their personal values.  I stressed to them that their values were their values and were not to be compromised.  If you have read some of my prior work, you may remember that I believe our values to be what we feel is right or wrong, and not just part of the time, or when convenient, but all of the time.

My goal as a parent, and now as a grandparent was not to mass produce myself.  I didn’t and don’t want my children to believe what I believe just because I believe it.  I wanted them to believe what is absolutely True because they had examined the facts and all viewpoints and  after having done so believe what they believe because they believe it.  I wanted the same for my students.  I want the same for you.

And so here we are.  Just days away from the 2018 mid term elections.  Turmoil on every front.  Opinions flying around as facts, and many individuals don’t seem to know or to care about the difference.  Here’s what I know.  In many cases it is impossible to know the truth because opinion is often presented as truth.

At the moment a hot topic of discussion, from social media to the local coffee shop, is the tidal wave of human beings that apparently began in South America, moved through Central America, and is steadily moving  through Mexico toward the Southern border of the United States.  In many of the discussions, including some in which I have been directly involved, individuals are pointing out that the Constitution of the United States of America  guarantees that these folks be admitted to the United States as long as they claim to be political refugees.  When I ask the person(s) making the statement if they have read the Constitution, they will either tell me no, or they will say yes and then refer not to the Constitution, but to a law or to whatever they believe to be fair, or nice.  A law is not the Constitution, and the Constitution is not law, although a law must be Constitutional.  In addition, a person may not personally find the Constitution to be fair, or to be nice.  It wasn’t designed to be either.  The Constitution is nothing but a system of checks and balances for controlling the elected officials of the United States of America to protect each of us from the elected officials, and to protect us from each other.

At this point it doesn’t matter what I think, nor does it matter what the reader thinks about the “caravan”.  It does matter what the Constitution has has to say.  This great country in which we are blessed to live in, that allows us the freedom to make many choices for ourselves, to believe anything that we want to believe, to vote for the people that we want to vote for, is based upon having an educated electorate.  And so I ask you, “What does the Constitution have to say regarding immigration?”.  Really, what does it say?  I don’t want to know what someone told you it says.  I don’t want to know what you read on social media, or heard at the coffee shop.  I want to know what the Constitution of these United States of America has to say about immigration.  Have you read the Constitution that you so like to discuss, and have you read it recently?  If not, why not?

Nearby, as I type, is a copy of Magruder’s American Government, copyright 1967.  Although we went to different high schools, this was the text  used in the American Government classes  my wife and I were part of.  In this textbook, the Constitution is reproduced in it’s entirety in only 8 and 1/2 pages.  That’s right, eight and one half pages.  That includes the many footnotes of the author of the textbook as well as the signatures of  all of the representatives that produced the document.  If you haven’t read the Constitution recently, why haven’t you?  it will only take you about twenty minutes.  In addition to the original document, are a few more pages of Amendments.  The total number of amendments  is twenty seven.  Another five minutes to read.  It is not hard to understand.  It is plainly spoken.

Once you read the Constitution for yourself, you will find that immigration is not mentioned anywhere.  Nor is it mentioned in the Amendments.  May I point out that International Law provides each sovereign nation the right to control it’s own borders.  Over the years, immigration to America has been controlled through various laws.  Currently, immigration is controlled by the Immigration Act of 1990.  Now research that.