Taking One More Step

I must have been dumbfounded. When my husband came home and told me about Trump's first mischief at the office, I really didn't get it. It just didn't register. “Imh...” I said. It was only after I read the news, I read the stories about the people stuck, detained at airports, families made to disembark from planes that they have boarded, only then, it registered with me.

I am so sorry previous POTUS. I'm sorry Obama.
    When Obama talked about the boy, Alex, who offered a place in his family for a Syrian boy, I had claimed it was cheesy. Well, what Trump did is not even cheesy. This is a farce.
    “It's a TV show,” said Carlo matter of factly. “We know it. We've had the same for years. Just like Berlusconi. They are showmen.”

Still... This was what I had meant when I called out Obama. He should have done what Trump did in reverse. Obama should have simply removed the need for visas and accepted everybody to the United States with an Executive Order. Well... Actually, I didn't know at the time that Obama could do such a thing. I had not meant he do that but he talk about doing that. The way Trump talks about building a wall, daring and bold, Obama should have talked about pulling down walls. He should have been more daring and bold. We need such a man on the political scene. Or a woman of course.
    I understand there'll be consequences. I understand how risky it is for anyone's political career. Especially given the current atmosphere. But some leader, someone who has the guts, has to stand up and say this at the risk of burning himself or herself. Someone has to do it. Someone has to keep the balance.

So many people have taken to the streets and protested. People are now talking about 218 million people (the population of the seven countries in the ban by Trump's EO) being tarred with the same brush. Okay, goood. Now take one more step. Just start talking about the current visa regime doing exactly the same thing. The almost worldwide accepted -and unquestioned- visa regime is just what Trump has done, just at one lower level. The visa requirements tar people born within the same boundary with the same brush. Mind you, that boundary that has been drawn by either literally bloody war or by metaphorically bloody politics. Seriously... Take one more step and stand up against the absurdity of the current visa regime, the injustice at birth.
    Take that step!