Charlie Brown should know better. Although Lucy repeatedly assures him that the football she sets up for him to kick will be kept in place each time as he draws his leg back, she whips it away at the last second and Charlie Brown ends up on his back. Again. Sound familiar? It’s a “fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” scenario.
On the other hand, let’s talk about Lucy.
Dealing with deceitful, gloating rule-breaking entities forces the Charlie Brown in the situation to be given a Sophie’s Choice option: Either join the unscrupulous by being intractable or “lose face” by trying to compromise. The Democrats are getting blasted by Citizen Trump via Tweety Bird for “…shutting down…” the government (as the GOP did during Obama’s term). Trump then turns and derides the Dems for “trusting” the party of Lucy in their effort for Congress to act in concert.
This proves that there’s no arguing with a sucker punch – just like those felons who, as a part of a gang initiation, target unsuspecting pedestrians with a fist, hammer, and (most recently) an 8-pound bottle of bleach. There’s no sense and no debate in a strategy that is brutal and dishonorable, supported by rationalizations right out of a prankster film like “Animal House” when Pinto is told by Otter: “You f–ed up. You trusted us.”
Many say that the Democrats should know better. They should. They do. But joining in this game without rules means abandoning the very moral ground on which they seek to stand. Giving this up, even temporally, as they have tried, is unsustainably Machiavellian and dispiriting. “The end justifying the means” is a narrow, steep and icy ski slope. It supports conflicts like the Crusades, which had a sect of Christians at war for, ostensibly, the survival of Christianity, even though the irony is that the religion has as its precepts love and forgiveness in the form of turning one’s cheek.
Of course, the Crusades and other church-sanctioned conflicts of that time had a shield of trying to squash what was seen as heretical paganism. Not that this is justification, but it was never about ethics or ideals. It was about property, power and the 1095 Bitcoin of the realm – just as it is today.
Those of us in the front lines of all our lives, our tattered boots on the muddy ground, are fighting for actual principles keenly felt. That’s why people on all sides are so ardent. But people on all sides must admit that much of this administration is angling for their own personal gain.
There may be Republicans, Conservatives and perhaps members of the so-called Far Right with empathy and compassion for the children of those that came to these (semi) United States sans documentation. But their voices are either drowned out, mumbling or not speaking up at all. I can imagine the circumstances of these “Dreamers.” Everyone in the USA (save the Aboriginal Americans, who have been treated as though they were the intruders) came from someplace else, often under duress. Companies like ancestry.com and 23andMe underscore this point, encouraging us to discover and celebrate that our family trees had their roots on other shores. Our forebears were often desperate and, likewise, heroically courageous, ingenious and strong. These words describe the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower. Were these early settlers pioneering, patriotic or perfidious? It depends on point of view.
Those seeking to be Americans now are the new disparate, new courageous, new potential patriots. Those brought here as children are simply Americans. It’s time we faced the fact that We the People of these United States are a blended family of stepchildren and adoptees. Most of us are not native to this land, even if born here, since our families came from afar thanks to our brave ancestors.
It’s true that the Democrats probably should not have relented, held fast to support these new patriots and their American offspring. But it’s also true that, if they continued to keep the government shut down, it would galvanize the opposition and sway the more reasonable centrist part of our country.
There’s no winning with those who are willing to pull the football away at the last second. It’s not as amusing as the drawings originally made by Charles Schulz. The way to be victorious is be mindful of our own immigrant history, be compassionate and keep public pressure on the Senate, House and the Office of the Executive, and insist that the football stays in place for the kickoff. The Super Bowl is just around the corner, after all. It’s interesting that the two teams squaring off have monikers referencing two birth seats of our government: the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England Patriots. Game on!
