Donald Trump has made some proposals that seem way out of line of common thinking. The media is portraying him in a historical context that is inaccurate. Let's slow down a bit and think about the historical context we use regarding Trump. Here are a few examples:
Refugee Crisis and ISIS: Trump has snarled a lot of liberals and often gets comparisons to Hitler. Yet it was Franklin Roosevelt who was the only President to create internment camps for American Citizens in our nations history when we were at war. He is a liberal icon. Is Trump so crazy that his policies are very similar to FDR?
Citizenship and Immigration: Trump's policies regarding immigration are referred to us unheard of in our nation's history. However, we have limited immigration in our past. Often times, in response to unprecedented growth within a minority group that has impacted our economy. Citizenship has been challenged repeatedly during our history. This is nothing new. Naturalization acts date back to 1790. The Chinese were actually refused entrance into our country for 50 years.
Monitoring of Muslim Immigrants: Again, nothing new. For example, In 1950, after the start of the Korean War, the Internal Security Act barred admission to any foreigner who was Communist, who might engage in activities "which would be prejudicial to the public interest, or would endanger the welfare or safety of the United States." The United States has a history of restricting or monitoring immigrants when we are at war.
Donald Trump's demagogy is very much a part of American History. Instead of using polarizing examples of Foreign figures such as Hitler, we need to examine our own history first.
No comments:
Post a Comment