Rep. Palumbo version of sympathy for immigrant children
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| Peter Palumbo: a disgraceful example of a human being |
In a letter to Governor Chafee,
Rep. Peter Palumbo (D-Cranston) reports that he has “nothing but sympathy” for
the immigrant children flooding our southern border. He apparently means that
quite literally. And his sympathy extends only as far as telling his press
liaison to type those words for him in a letter he, ahem, wrote to the
governor. The children in question are apparently worth zero expense or effort
beyond that, in his eyes.
So
what, exactly, is his sympathy worth? And why does he bother to express it this
way?
Palumbo, however, wants to pretend otherwise
by covering it up with pretty words. But pretty words alone never took care of
a child, not one from Honduras, nor one from Cranston. When accompanied by
tender care, pretty words can be a lovely thing, but when accompanied by a cold
shoulder, they are just embarrassing.
I
am, from time to time, impatient with people who imagine that there is no
financial justification for good public policy. Care for the poor and disabled,
attention to the youngest and most vulnerable children, being good stewards of
the environment, cleaning up toxins, don’t have to be justified by weepy
appeals to heartstrings. These are, more often than not, policies that easily
cost less than the results of ignoring them.
But
pointing out that a policy is not just the right thing to do, but also saves
money, is a far cry from thinking that saving money is the only possible
justification for public policy. There are times when the right thing to do
costs money. That doesn’t mean it is not the right thing to do.
For
a variety of reasons, a humanitarian crisis is in full swing on our southern
border. It is not clear to me exactly what the cause is for the dramatic
increase in unaccompanied children coming across the border, and it seems not
really clear to anyone at this point.
But it is clear to me that denying the
existence of the crisis and denying that our nation — and our state — has the
capacity to aid those children, is heartless and cruel.
We are still among the
richest countries on the planet. We are not talking here about deploying troops
or air strikes or our navy. We are talking about feeding and housing children
who seem to need that kind of help and are already here among us.
If we can’t
do that, then what kind of country are we?
Tom Sgouros is a freelance engineer, policy
analyst, and writer. Check out his new book, "Checking the Banks: The Nuts and Bolts of Banking for People
Who Want to Fix It" from Light Publications.
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