For the Children

Exclusive to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

There is a tactic that the left loves to use to pull at our heartstrings. It reminds me of this episode of The Simpsons where you had a mob of idiots, who demanded that the mayor take unnecessary steps to prevent escaped bears from roaming the street. This particular mob always had a woman that cried out “Will someone please think of the children?” Of course, when the mayor decided to appease this mob by creating some anti-bear patrol, the idiot mob then complained about the high taxes that they had to pay for an unnecessary service and once again you had that same woman who cried out “Will someone please think of the children?” Another great parody of this mentality was an episode of South Park where the people tried to run a Starbucks-like coffee shop out of town, by creating a campaign that accused supporters of the coffee shop of being anti-children.

Not to say that I haven’t seen both sides of the political spectrum use children to get their message across. Though it seems like it is the left that excels at it the most. My problem is that the left doesn’t seem to care about children, like they claim they do. They just like using them as political props. They love using the mental images of dead children to sell gun laws that never seem to have much popularity when there isn’t a school shooting. Anyone who dares to question the validity of passing gun laws at a time of mourning, is now a monster who hates children. Personally, If I was someone who lost loved ones in a mass shooting, I would be much angrier at the people standing on their graves so they can further a political agenda.

Not too long ago the left attempted to use children to promote open borders policies. First, we had the Dreamers, who were the children of illegal immigrants who not only took it upon themselves to come across the border illegally, but they had to drag their kids along with them. The left tells us that it is unfair to deport these same children, since they didn’t have much say in their living situation. That would be fair point if it weren’t for the inconvenient little fact that many of these children are now grown adults who act like entitled brats, who believe that their residency in this country is now a right.

Then of course there were the infamous pictures of the children of the illegal aliens sitting in cages, which they tried to use to turn public sentiment against Trump’s immigration policies. Never mind that nobody on the left seemed too concerned about these policies when they were implemented during the Obama administration. Even the pictures that they have used as an attempt to pull at the public’s heartstrings were actually taken two years before Trump was even elected. I am pretty sure that nobody wants to see kids separated from their families and placed into cages, but isn’t that a better reason not to be dragging your kids along when you are crossing the border illegally?

Once again, the left would use children as a political prop when the Caravan from Honduras tried to force their way across the US border. For weeks the media had criticized the president for using the military to block the migrants from entering the country illegally. Some said that the migrants were refugees fleeing their homes because of government persecution, even though most of the evidence that had been gathered actually proves that most of them were leaving their countries for economic reasons, which the US doesn’t recognize as criteria for refugee status. Also, it seems like the overwhelming majority of them were able-bodied men, while families only made up a tiny percentage of the whole Caravan. At one point the media even denied that the Caravan even existed, at least that was until it finally showed up outside of our borders. There have been a few times where I made predictions that were spot on. One of them was the election of Donald Trump during the 2016 elections. I also predicted that the left would use children as a prop to gain sympathy for the people traveling in the Caravan. You have this picture of a mother running with her two kids to get away from the tear gas that was unleashed by soldiers who were keeping members of the Caravan from forcing their way across the border. I even predicted the fake outrage that the left would espouse once something like this happened.

If these migrants truly want to keep their kids out of harm’s way, then they should follow the same advice that I just gave about keeping them out of cages. Also, if they realized that America is a sovereign country that isn’t obligated to let them in on someone else’s terms, they wouldn’t have ended up getting gassed in the first place. These same people who were throwing rocks at law enforcement and servicemen who got in their way were the same people who pushed these kids to the front of gas attacks. Yet, it was Trump and our servicemen who were the big meanies. Don’t get me wrong, I feel sorry for the kids who are being used as political props, but I am actually aiming my wrath at those who actually deserve it, such as the parents who are allowing their kids to be used in this matter. According to the left, anybody who criticizes anyone other than Trump for this travesty, is a cold, heartless monster.

I find it quite telling that the left didn’t even blink an eye when a federal agent shot a fourteen-year-old kid in the back, while a sharpshooter managed to kill an unarmed woman holding a baby at Ruby Ridge. I remember leftists such as Charles Schumer who would throw hissy fits whenever it was suggested that the FBI should have been held accountable for the children who were killed at Waco and Ruby Ridge. Apparently they only care about children when it comes to advancing an agenda. It’s like some cowardly punk that sucker punches you in the face, only to hide behind a child before you have a chance to hit back. Personally, it doesn’t quite have the same effect on me. People who hide behind children just make me angrier. It actually makes me want to come at that person ten times harder than I did before. That is the way we need to handle people who use children as their preverbal shields. We need to come at them ten times harder than we would have before they decided to drag children into the equation.