On Your Front Porch...

Recently, one of our upcoming presidential candidates made the "big news" headlines for a statement he made on a very debatable current topic.
His "news" if you haven't seen it already, centered around this quote delivered from a aircraft carrier near South Carolina...
Mr Donald Trump - "...is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,”

In case you can't make sense of the legal mumbo jumbo, basically this guy is promoting a "do not enter" sign on America's borders for any and all Muslims.
This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise given that one of his earlier "do not enter" signs was posted on the Mexican border, exciting all kinds of Hispanics, both living in Mexico and those residing in America.

It seems this kind of statement is an easy one to dislike, people are already declaring Mr Trump unfit to run.  As in, he isn't even allowed to compete for votes because his stance "breaks the constitutional rights of immigrants".
Which feels believable to me, if you can't honor the current system, how can we let you lead us right.
But it's this current system that I've spent so much time typing about lately so mabes it's time I give it another go round eh.

How long do you embrace a system that is not working?  When is it time to say okay, enough of the old ways, we need some new..?
But a bigger issue seems to trump that statement (get it?)
As much as we all don't want to admit it, our country is at war.  It's probs time we accepted that eh.
Our enemies are certainly calling it a war.  They've had over twenty thousand bombs dropped on their lands recently (twenty thousand, can you imagine that..?)
Other countries are clearly at war with this enemy.
How long can we keep denying it?
If we are killing them and they are killing us, what kind of semantics dance are we trying to perform here, the twirls just aren't the same huh.

And if we are indeed, "at war" (which seems pretty hard to dispute at this point right), do we employ the same policies that we have in the past toward our enemies?
I am only almost forty years old but I can sorta remember some wars from back in my day.
And one of the things that sorta stands out in my noodle, was that we didn't, during those wars, allow their warriors to come to our lands and kill us.
Is that right and wait a minute Bishop, let me digest this a little slower, it's been a while since we've been "at war" (mabes we thought we out-grew it once upon a time...)

You mean to say, that you think the bad guys should stay on their land and the good guys on theirs and they should only attack each other on a "neutral site"..?
And okay, I can possibs understand if you put it into football terms...
This is like when the Ohio State Buckeyes want to play for the championship, they aren't allowed to play in their home stadium because that would create an unfair advantage.
They also can't play in their opponent's stadium for the same reason so they end up throwin' down in Texas because there's no good teams in Texas (oh yeah, makes sense now...)

So what Mr Trump is really trying to say, is that there doesn't seem to be an alternative.
The first part of the equation says - we are at war.  Yep, confirmed.
The second part says - we should allow our enemy to come to our house and fight?
And okay, you've got a problem with allowing the enemy to cross our borders?  Why?
We cross their borders all the time.  We even fly above their weapons range and drop bombs that they have no hope of defending against.
We enter their lands to fight them all the time, don't we?

(And okay, before you get all technical, I understand that our policy has been "no boots on the ground" and I can accept that.  But the situation is still the same.  If we want to go over their armed to the teeth, will they let us just walk right in and start shooting?)

Because anyone who wants to slam Mr Trump and compare him to Hitler, anyone who thinks they know better or are "better" than that,  I challenge you to provide a better policy.
I challenge you to feel safe if Mr Trump buys a bunch of plane tickets for the ISIS warriors, supplies them with guns and bombs and, here it comes, ready?
They are delivered right to the front door of America, to the steps of the White House.

Now, opponents of Mr Trumps position, you would have no problem accepting these drug fueled suicidal bombers on your doorsteps?
People, we're not fighting fair and we haven't for a long long time!
How are you going to preach that you're high and mighty and better than those that have to make a tough decision while your head is being detached from your shoulders by an ISIS fighter with a rusty blade?

I know there are Muslims living in America right now that shouldn't be forced out.  I know there are good Muslims living here right now because I know some of them, I'm friends with some of them.
So my solution to their problem is simple.
If you want to enter our country during a time of war with your own people or your home country or your religion...
Change the name of your religion.  Change the name of your ancestors.
I already see people marching in demonstrations.  Muslims and Mexicans and everything in between.
They're calling out their brethren, they are trying to distance themselves from being associated with "the bad guys".  And I don't blame them.
If my Ohio State Buckeyes suddenly started slaughtering innocent people, I would have to stop wearing their colors and I should announce to the world that I am no longer a Buckeye supporter (whoof, hard to type that huh...)

The point is, if you want to come live in our country, where we fight to protect ourselves and our loved ones, claim you are of a different religion on the questionnaire.  Trim your beard, lose the coverings.
If you want a leader that won't close borders during a war, don't plan on staying long because soon our lands will be just as dangerous and ruined as yours.

I am not a supporter of Donald Trump (I have no money).
In my forty years of being an American, I have never voted, not once (although I might break my record if he's allowed to run).
I dislike politics on an unimaginably large scale, I don't support our government and believe it is time we shredded that constitution.
I believe in freedom of speech and religion and if you want to come to my country and peacefully practice your weirdness, I'm totally cool with that.

But these are special circumstances that require special actions to be taken.
I can see the logic in denying the enemy's soldiers access to our homes.
I can understand the closing of borders to protect ourselves, please understand that we are reacting to actions that have been taken against us.
Mr Trump's policy would not have my support if we weren't at war.
When the dust settles and the good guys have finally won, once and for all, our borders should be thrown open for all, as they should be.
Until then, if you're a refugee trying to escape a war torn country, try to wait in a neutral country for a bit, try to understand that we're sorry.