America Has Gone from The Statue of Liberty to Alligator Alcatraz

As we observe America's 249th birthday, it cannot be lost upon us that our national identity is changing right before our very eyes.

There was a time when this country embodied the spirit of Emma Lazarus' homage to the Statue of Liberty in her poem "The New Colossus":

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

With our semiquincentennial a year from now, the Trump Administration ethos has moved us from the Statue of Liberty to Alligator Alcatraz in the Florida Everglades where people detained by ICE have been shipped. In the words of Florida Attorney General James Utheimer, “Next stop: back to where they came from.”

Aside from the poor grammar, most of the people who will be housed in Alligator Alcatraz have only known as America as home. These are people who have gone to school, attained gainful employment and served in our military. But none of that matters to Vice-President Vance who made it very clear who he blames for all the ills in our country in praise of Trump's inaptly named One Big Beautiful Bill which was signed into law today by President Trump:

The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The OBB fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass.

Everything else — the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy — is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions. 

This is the heart of the MAGA mindset - easy answers to complicated problems. Of course, easy answers are invariably the wrong answers. Perhaps this country will come to that realization in 2028 - assuming there is still a functioning democracy by that time.

Mind you, the United States is no stranger to nativism as demonstrated by the rise of the Know Nothings nearly two centuries ago. But the Know Nothings could only dream of the power attained by Trump and MAGA. 

Yet we must remember that we chose to give Trump and MAGA this power. The question remains if we will choose to take that power away from them. Even if the answer is yes, Trump and MAGA will not accept that choice and will be prepared to use force. Are we prepared to use force in kind to sustain our choices? 

On the other hand, it is quite possible America prefers Alligator Alcatraz over the Statue Liberty.

Happy Birthday, America. Hope you got what you wanted.