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February 19, 2015

Despicable Disconnection

By Mary Bell Lockhart

Commenting on the Texas lawsuit against the President for his executive action to help families avoid deportation

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Television producer Norman Lear recently expressed it well - "I'm just another version of you." Yet we seem to be self-sorting into those who keep and those who have lost perception of our connections to each other

Do we understand friends and enemies as another version of us and we of them? Do we genuinely understand that we're all in this together, that we are our brothers' keepers, that we should do unto others as we would have them do unto us, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves? Are these core principles of all religious faiths and the foundation of our government?

It's lost on Texas Teapublicans. President Obama rightfully and lawfully redirected enforcement away from 2 groups of non citizens facing possible deportation - 1) law-abiding, hard-working, tax-paying parents of US citizen children and 2) law-abiding, hard-working, tax-paying young adults brought here as children.

Since the President doing something to help people of ordinary means just enrages Teapublicans, Greg Abbott, as Attorney General, joined 26 other Teapublican states to sue the President. Never mind that, as Chief Executive, the President has the same power of "prosecutorial discretion" that police, prosecutors and judges exercise every day; or that similar Presidential action has already been ruled lawful in Arizona; or that this action likely helps those states more than it harms and saves us all money. Talk about a "frivolous lawsuit!"

Intent on hurting families, Teapublicans shopped a Federal judge (of dubious connection to the human race) and got him to issue a temporary injunction. It shouldn't withstand legal review, but we saw the despicable spectacle of our corporatista Governor Abbott and our Teapublican Lt Governor Patrick applauding and cheering their temporary "victory" while law-abiding hard-working, tax-paying human beings endure fear of deportation tearing their families apart. Disconnected Teapublicans are the biggest threat our society faces.



Authors Bio:

I'm a retired public health worker focused these days on supporting a variety of progressive issues, such as criminal justice reform, energy efficiency, environmental protection, universal health care, civil rights, and worldwide peace and respect. I have a BA in Psychology and an MA from the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs.


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