Don's TuesdayColumn

             THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson  Red Bluff Daily News   4/03/2018

               Census lies; student protest irony

Before providing a few observations on the week’s events, I’d like to remind readers of the upcoming Republican Red, White and Blue Dinner honoring Tehama County Agriculture on April 14, at the Veterans Memorial Hall, 735 Oak Street. Doors will open at 5:30; a rewarding and inspirational program starts at 6:30. The details from last week’s column were posted at DonPolson.blogspot.com on March 27 and are still viewable. For reservations: 865-2666 (Linda Alston), 200-0091 (Jerry Crow).

You might have missed the phony uproar over the decision, by Trump’s Census Bureau, to include a question on citizenship in the 2020 census form. The response from the usual open-boarders, leftist crowd, including a lawsuit by California’s A.G. Bacerra, was hysterical by any definition. They and their news media cohorts disingenuously protested that such a question—asking how many in the household are born or naturalized citizens, or not—has some potentially dire consequences.

To wit: “DNC Chair Tom Perez said that asking a citizenship question on the census was ‘a craven attack on our democracy and a transparent attempt to intimidate immigrant communities.’ Nancy Pelosi said it violated the Constitution” (ntknetwork.com). As invariably happens, the arguments used by progressives to support their outraged outbursts fall apart upon serious scrutiny. Such a tally of citizens and legal residents in our country has been routine for as long as the Census has been conducted.

The query has taken different forms in different versions of the Census; in the 2000 Census, under Pres. Bill Clinton, the “long-form questionnaire” (filled out by about one out of six households) asked, “Is this person a CITIZEN of the United States?” Three boxes for citizenship by birth, one for citizenship by naturalization, and one for “not a citizen.” So, was Clinton “intimidating immigrants” or “violating the Constitution”? It’s just fallacious leftist silliness.

The fact is that illegal immigrants, included in the census, provide the justification for states with excessive illegal alien populations, like California, New York and Illinois, to have extra seats in Congress as well as more presidential electors—between 10 and 15 nationwide. Then there are budgetary allocations of “benefits” based on “population,” legal or not. Freebies for illegals—yay! It therefore serves the corrupt purposes of Democrats to inflate their political power and money. They’ve been honest when calling illegal immigrants “Americans without papers” or future Democratic voters. They should be ashamed.

A funny thing didn’t happen on a chair lift ride the other day: We were chatting with a local high school teacher (we always thank them for their vocation) and she shared that some of her students had just organized a march by fellow students—and we had nothing to say on the subject. We knew what was reported and the anti-gun purpose of the students’ efforts; the teacher was proud their activism.

For our part, my part really, there was no way to have a brief (a few minutes to reach the top of the ski lift) interaction and not risk putting a downer on her pride, knowing what we know on the gun topic. So, of course, I later thought of “what I should have said” that would have encouraged her educator side to broaden their perspectives and knowledge, to temper zeal and inform minds.

Let’s consider potential questions for her students to ponder and research (with my brief answers). Q: What is the definition of an “assault” rifle? A: There is none beyond that created by the gun control groups to attach to any semi-automatic rifle they think looks militaristic, even if it would have no use on an actual battlefield and has only cosmetic differences with standard hunting rifles.

Q: Are there diverse, sincerely held positions on gun control/gun rights issues among fellow students? A: Yes, polling has shown that those in favor of more gun control laws are about 60 percent of students compared to about 40 percent that find the right to own guns is more important. Q: Is it appropriate for those espousing pro-gun control positions to demonize and denigrate those on the gun rights side? A: No. In a fair and polite debate, respect and inclusion is accorded to all views; foul-mouthed attacks on opposing views, as has happened among the March For Our Lives (MFOL) protesters on their signs and interviews, is out of place and should be criticized.

Follow-up question: Why have the Parkland high school MFOL leaders, young Mr. Hogg, Ms. Gonzales and others, ignored and dismissed fellow students who lost friends and family—like Kyle Kashuv and Patrick Petty—who adhere to the gun rights side? A: It’s obvious that they don’t fit the preferred narrative that all students think alike and back the anti-gun MFOL side. Basic dishonesty.

Q: Doesn’t it undermine the protest to accept essential funding, and organizational, logistical and media support, from anti-gun groups, public employee unions, big city liberal machines and Hollywood—without disclosing that fact? A: Arguably, it does undermine the protest; without it all there wouldn’t be a MFOL movement. Under-18 protesters are a minority of demonstrators.

Q: Why focus on “assault rifles,” legally and responsibly owned by law-abiding citizens, when most murders are committed by hand guns, knives, fists or blunt objects used illegally by criminals. A: There is no real answer besides intended or unintended hypocrisy, revealing duplicitous motives.

Final Q: Why reject proposals for training and arming qualified school employees—principals, teachers, janitors—as has been done in over 150 schools in Texas? A: Because when that happens—with signs that say “Please be aware that the staff may be armed and will use whatever force is necessary to protect our students”—it will, just as in those Texas schools, eliminate school massacres by crazed, criminal gunmen. The “March For Our Lives” supporters want the anti-gun, anti-NRA issue, not school safety solutions.