Postponing Fairness           April 21, 2013

            Again!  Again it was heard—a familiar phrase from the 60’s—we should put off doing A until X or Y gets done.  This time the target was immigration reform.  The refrain was, we should put it off until we know more about loopholes in the system (read, how Tsarnaev got to be a citizen).  It is the foot-dragging refrain used by representatives of vested interests, bigots, and other simple thinkers.  I’m as simple as anyone, but how such a contention can be made with a straight face, and how people with any sense of history can hear it without snorting derision, is beyond belief.

            Still, even Senators, have a right to say what they think and be heard.  We could all use practice in listening to those with whom we disagree.  It’s a good thing.  It helps us join to ensure the failure of bad ideas—we can all help shovel out the rotten corn. 

So, listen to the same old line, heard so often:  ‘we want to help the poor, but first we must reduce the national debt’; ‘we need to end racial discrimination, but it’s not politically expedient right now—wait a while’; ‘we need to end slavery, but not right now—it would hurt our country.’  If you recognize any of this, grab a shovel.  We have rotten corn to move.

            Around here we think America needs action not excuses.  Not well- or ill-intentioned delaying tactics.  Congress should be a place for promoting fairness, not postponing it.