These times call for big people

The left’s hysteria over President Trump’s temporary pause in immigration from jihadi states seems wholly insincere. Democrats have no problem banning people trying to immigrate to the United States, as evidenced by their high praise of President Obama’s recent ban on Cubans fleeing the totalitarian Castro regime. It was his parting gift to one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. Cubans trying to reach American shores were left stranded all over Central America when the Obama ban was enacted.

 

Where was the ACLU?  Where was CAIR? Where were all the indignant pundits?  Where were the protestors?  Where was a weeping Sen. Chuck Schumer? They were silent.  So the hysteria we’re seeing right now from the left seems to have little to do with their moral superiority and everything to do with subverting the democratic process and silencing people who agree with the new policy.

 

{mosads}Donald Trump was very clear when he ran for president about what he was going to do if elected. From day one he said he was going to overhaul the process for vetting newcomers. This was one of his campaign’s main themes. He repeated it again and again. And it is this message, along with trade and jobs, which catapulted him to victory. His campaign promises beat out those of Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, Marco Rubio, and Bernie Sanders, all of whom advocated for open borders, amnesty, more refugees, and higher immigration levels. The American people soundly rejected those ideas.  That the left will not accept the results of this election is disappointing, but it is all too human.

 

In the mid-2000s, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), was chairman of the human rights subcommittee on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As subcommittee chairman he could hold hearings on most anything he wanted, as all chairmen can.  Rohrabacher is one of the great anti-communist, anti-jihadi freedom fighters in Congress. His hearings helped advance the cause of liberty.

 

But then a midterm election came along and the Democrats nationally trounced the Republicans. They were suddenly in control of Congress including all committee and subcommittee chairmanships. In the blink of an eye Rohrabacher went from chairman to ranking Republican.   A left wing Castro-sympathizing Democrat was now subcommittee chairman. He was the complete opposite of Rohrabacher.

 

The new chairman decided to hold hearings casting Cuba in a positive light. He invited pro-Castro and pro-Hugo Chavez witnesses. Many Republicans were horrified. Someone high up in Congress wanted Ranking Member Rohrabacher to get the hearings cancelled on a technicality so that these communist sympathizers wouldn’t have a public forum for their agenda.

 

Rohrabacher’s response was unforgettable.  He said, “the Democrats won the elections fair and square and they control Congress. The chairman gets to have hearings on whatever he wants. We’re not going to beat them on a technicality, we’re going to beat them with our arguments at the hearings. That’s how democracy works.” And the hearings went forward.

 

Yes, it was difficult listening to the chairman of the human rights subcommittee praise the rule of Fidel Castro.  It was disturbing to hear the Democrats romanticize one of the most brutal ideologies the world has ever known. Most of them were reading propaganda bullet points about Cuba directly from the Castro regime. But the Republican members brought up stirring and passionate responses that were impossible to refute. It was clear who had the better arguments.

 

America was the first country in the history of the world to peacefully transfer political power from one party to another. That we do this is rare not only by historical standards, but also by modern ones. Ronald Reagan called it a miracle. It defies human nature and is part of what makes America exceptional.

 

When Democrats flout the law, as Acting Attorney General Sally Yates did in the past week when she refused to obey President Trump’s jihadi-state immigration pause, they are defying the American people, our democracy, and a 217-year old tradition. When Democrats boycott committee hearings because they’re mad that the president gets to appoint Cabinet members, they’re attempting to thwart the democratic process. 

 

Let’s hope they stop with the totalitarian tactics and try winning their arguments legitimately: at the ballot box, in Congress and in the court of public opinion.  That is what true classical liberals do. It is a big idea and it requires big people — who seem to be in short supply right now. 

 

Do we still have the type of leaders that will keep our peaceful democratic traditions going?  Or will hysteria, defying the law, and riots win the day? Only time will tell. 

 

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The views expressed by this author are their own and are not the views of The Hill.