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Who Should We Blame? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-21

Who should we blame? Because that is what we do. Rather than learning how to work together for the common good, we blame each other. Although, to be fair, some are much better blamers than others.

Should we blame the push—the poverty, political instability, violence, economic hardship, and complete lack of opportunity in failed and corrupt countries south of the U.S. border and elsewhere that ensure a continuous flow of people? Let’s blame those countries. Or should we blame the gangs and coyotes who usher immigrants to our border—big business for them? Or should we blame the corrupt officials along the way who permit border crossings and transit through their countries?

Should we blame the immigrant? Of course, we should, because they are such easy scapegoats—not people like us who want life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—but, according to Trump, who never lies, diseased, mentally ill, drug-addicted, ignorant, uneducated, dirty, lazy, barely human criminals, or worse—with brown skin, or black skin, or yellow skin—the nemesis of White Supremacists. Should we blame the immigrant fathers who come to provide a better life for their families? Or must we blame mothers who come here with their children because they want to give them a better life? And what about the women who come to the U.S. and have babies on our soil? How dare they. Should we blame the mothers who send their children north to keep them from being killed or the immigrants who come here to support the family they left behind, sending some of their wages to that family? Yes, let’s blame the immigrants—the ones who do jobs that no one wants, who live in the shadows in fear that they will be discovered, who work hard for low wages, who are consumers who support our economy, and who pay taxes—the immigrants who make large sections of our economy work.

Should we blame the pull—the illusion of America that draws them North like moths to the flame? Ought we blame every employer, including small businesses, who hire immigrants and pay them low wages and profit off of them? Or should we blame Americans who are too lazy or proud to take those menial jobs—those uppity poor people who think they deserve better jobs? Or should we blame the media personalities who tell us that if they were gone, America would work better even though it would not? Should we blame the Americans who live on the backs of the immigrants, enjoying cheaper food—meals at restaurants or produce and meat products at supermarkets—clean offices and hotel rooms, car repair, landscaping, home repairs, new-home construction, and more? Should we blame the government, which has been unable to design meaningful immigration laws that would actually match the labor needs in America, from low-income jobs to high-skilled, technical, and medical jobs? Should we blame the politicians who use it as a political football to win one election after another—the red meat that they feed to their base?

Should we blame America for being a nation of immigrants or for too many of her native-born who want to shut the door to America despite the courage and suffering of their immigrant ancestors?

There is so much blame to go around when, instead, we need compassion to grasp the reality of immigrants, hospitality to welcome them, gratitude to thank them for their courage and contributions, education to understand and appreciate their culture, and imagination to make America work for them and us.

Instead, we have a madman like Trump who is, for unknown but truly bizarre reasons, systematically destroying America with the aim of becoming a dictator, albeit of a failed state. He won’t have to deport anyone because growing numbers of U.S. citizens who have the financial means will emigrate to Canada or Europe. Many undocumented immigrants are already going north, not to America but to Canada. And for those living in a failed state, why would they want to immigrate to another failed state?

The truth is blaming gets us nowhere. The immigration crisis is a reflection of larger systemic issues—economic disparity, political instability, and deeply ingrained prejudices. Instead of pointing fingers, Trump’s primary instinct, we should be seeking solutions that honor the dignity of all people involved. America has long prided itself on being a land of opportunity. Trump is destroying that.

Ironically, once Trump, Musk, and the Republican Congressional minions are gone, we will need many immigrants to help rebuild all that they have destroyed.

Time left to January 20, 2029: 1,402 days

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