Imagine a lifeboat drifting away from a ship that just slipped below the surface of a stormy sea. Imagine the lifeboat has a capacity of 20 and there are already 30 people in it. Imagine that because of the extra load, waves regularly wash over the gunwales into the boat, making it necessary to bail constantly to remain afloat. Imagine that you are huddled in that lifeboat with your family, and suddenly someone sees other people in the water swimming toward your boat. You must decide whether to try to rescue them or to avoid them.
In that lifeboat scenario, overloading the boat any more would almost certainly cause it to capsize or sink immediately. Even if the waves subsided and the boat did not founder right away, there would not be enough emergency supplies for the increased number of people if landfall or rescue were more than a few days away. The only way to save some of the people would be for some to remain unsaved. That could mean either leaving those swimming out of the boat, or it could mean exchanging some of the lives in the boat for those in the water. You could offer to put you and your family back in the water so that others could take your place.
This imaginary scene is not as unreal as it may seem. The danger is not from being cast from a sinking ship. Instead it is a sinking economy that has made survival less than certain. By survival, I mean the continuance of the standard of living to which people have become accustomed. The swimmers are immigrants wishing to climb aboard a healthy economy and escape their sinking state. This could apply to the Irish fleeing famine in the 1800's. There have been several scenes like this in Africa lately. The country I have immediately in mind is Great Britain according to a recent story in The Guardian.
The Brits are discussing a serious problem with immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria, particularly. These two recent additions to the European Economic Community (EEC) have very poor conditions economically. The EEC demands that member nations allow unrestricted immigration from fellow members. Britain fears that a wave of unsavory types would result from continuation of this policy, so they are debating the wisdom of remaining in the EEC. In other words, they are thinking about rowing away from the sinking ship and letting the swimmers fend for themselves rather than sink their own boat.
The parallels to the US immigration situation are obvious. We don't have an outside body dictating open borders, but the social and political climate in the US often seem to dictate just such a thing. It is a complex issue, but one wonders if some employers aren't suggesting tossing a few of us out of the boat in favor of some swimmers. (See Byron York article.) La Raza and other pro-immigration groups like to paint emotional pictures of underprivileged souls looking for a better life in the land of opportunity.
The problem is that we no longer have the seemingly unlimited opportunities we once dreamed. Our ship is foundering. If you take the national debt seriously, some would say we are already taking on water at a rate that makes survival impossible. The true unemployment rate is nearly twice the 7.3% that is currently listed. Cities and even states are either bankrupt (think Detroit) or heading there. None of our social welfare programs have financial sustainability; Social Security runs out of funds in 2033, and Medicare sooner than that. Bringing in more people will simply accelerate the disaster.
The real question is who is responsible. Is Great Britain responsible for the Romanians? Is the rest of Africa responsible for the Sudanese? Is America responsible for everyone in the world? Do the rich have a responsibility to the poor? The answer in the abstract is yes, of course. Practically speaking, it comes down to how much we are willing to give up to provide for those less fortunate than we. The people of Great Britain and the US are filthy rich compared to most of the world's people. The dilemma is that if we let everyone into the boat, we will all drown. If you were expecting me to answer this dilemma, you will be disappointed. I cannot. I know what the church must do. Nations?
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