From: Don Strietelmeier
Columbus
A recent article by John Krull, who is always given prominent attention, was headlined “Lawmakers’ decisions carry a price,” and it was leading up to a criticism of Gov. Mike Pence’s decision to ban Syrian refugees from coming to Indiana.
Keep in mind that it was the Obama administration that invited — we still don’t know how many — thousands to this country. We do know that most, if not all, are Muslim, and we don’t know with enough certainty that there are not some who support ISIS and will be a threat to Americans.
We also know from what we see in the crowds of these displaced people that most are young men who you would think would be in their own country trying to protect it while American soldiers are sent to do it for them. And we know that none of these will be living in the Obama White House but rather be dispersed to various states and cities. And we know that all immigrants who are classified as refugees are entitled to any benefits such as welfare, food stamps, medical care, education and maybe unemployment. Free to them, but so what? Someone will pick up the bill, and it will fall on the American taxpayer.
Pence has the responsibility of looking after the safety and welfare of the residents of Indiana. Krull is not concerned about that but is concerned that the governor is spending money for legal fees to support this ban rather than spend it to fix potholes or hire teachers.
Krull, of course, puts the blame on Pence when it was the ACLU that challenged the ban. And he proudly boasts that he was formerly the executive director of this group, what is now the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, and this organization can be reimbursed for legal fees if it prevails against the government on a constitutional question. That constitutional question seems to be whether Pence was applying the powers of government selectively against one group rather than equally.
Since there seems to be so much emphasis today on equality, especially by some such as Krull, let us try to be fair with the Syrian refugees. This would require the Obama administration to secure a complete background check on each refugee, or would that be unequal selectivity? We wouldn’t want the power of government used selectively against one group rather than equally.
Therefore, for the Syrian refugees to be treated equally, we cannot accept only Muslims. To be fair and equal we must accept an exact equal number of Syrian Christians. After all, the Christians in the war zone are in far more danger from ISIS than are the Muslims.
