The Democrats want to close our schools and open our borders.
American families all over the country have already dealt with months of uncertainty as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and the temporary economic downturn caused by state and local stay-at-home orders. Now, millions of working parents are facing a new worry — being left out of the “V-shaped” economic recovery that’s beginning to take place because they have no way to care for their children unless schools fully reopen in the fall.
Most schools have adopted a “partial” approach to reopening, in which students only attend in person two or three days per week, with the other days reserved for virtual “learning.” This creates a difficult situation for two-parent households, and an all-but-impossible one for single parents. It also creates a highly disjointed and inconsistent learning environment — and a potentially dangerous one for children who endure abuse or neglect at home.
An entire generation of America’s children are being deprived of formal education — not only in the skills that they will need to lead successful lives, but also in this country’s common values and ideals. It would be one thing if this were a temporary sacrifice that we had to make in order to save lives, but the data indicate otherwise. Even in countries that have reopened schools most aggressively, there has been no observable increase in COVID-19 infections as a result.
It’s enough to make one wonder whether the Democrat governors who are among the most eager to keep schools from fully reopening have something other than public health in mind — especially in light of their Party’s ongoing support for illegal immigration.
Even as they fret about letting Americans leave their houses due to COVID-19, the Democrats retain their fascination with a radical open-borders agenda that threatens to further erode the shared set of beliefs and principles that have always been a central feature of American society. Around 40 million Americans have been dislocated from the workforce, and Americans overwhelmingly want to prioritize their return to work before the cheap labor billionaire class goes to work on another amnesty.
Border security is not a matter of “xenophobia,” as Joe Biden notoriously claimed in response to President Trump’s life-saving travel restrictions on China early in the pandemic. Rather, it’s a central component to ensuring public safety, upholding the rule of law, and maintaining an orderly society.
The Democrats not only want to tear down the wall and replace it with a welcome mat, they actually want to actively incentivize foreigners to enter the country illegally by offering them access to welfare benefits such as “free” taxpayer-funded healthcare— all without having to bother with the hassle of passing comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.
This is antithetical to core American values such as personal responsibility and respect for the law of the land, and it can only serve to undermine the legitimacy of our governing institutions. After all, if we can simply ignore the immigration laws that Congress has passed, then what’s stopping us from ignoring any other federal law?
The combination of closed schools and open borders that today’s Democrats favor is a toxic brew that would prove fatal to our Republic. We can’t afford to take even the tiniest sip.
David Alan Brat is the dean of the Liberty University School of Business. He served as the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district from 2014 to 2019.
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