Hi Rambi, yes you're quite right. We will never agree on this one. And I can understand the others point of view. I even felt the same sort of way early on. But my point of view has evolved. :)
Especially, when I noticed the way in which the Miami family was demogoged by the administration and mainstream press. I always get suspicious when the mainstream press starts moving in lock-step with one another in order to steer public opinion.
I see the raid as linked to the overall political objective. And believe if politics was not a part of the equation, a raid of that sort would never have occurred. I mean really, the boy was in no danger at all living there. (no matter how much horrible cigarette smoke was being puffed).
If we go down a path of justifying these kinds of actions because a person has a DUI or smokes, or is ugly and smelly, or doesn't clean his yard and on and on and on...We have set a dangerous precedence in my mind.
Those people should have been treated by the law the same way as you and I should get treated. They may have been of a lower socioeconomic class than us, and maybe they don't live the kind of life we think admirable. But that really doesn't matter. The law should work the same way whether they were high priced lawyers living on Madison Avenue, or dish washers, who skip from one rental apartment to another and chain smoke. No one deserves to be treated that way unless they are dangerous criminals. That to me is the spirit and intent of the fourth amendment. And no matter how ugly people want to paint the "Miami Cuban Family", they were not criminals.
I agree, no matter how you think or feel it doesn't mean you are less or more of anything. I believe it does mean we have different priorities. Some view the priority of immediate father/son reunion on a higher plane than our fourth amendment. Others, like myself, would like to have seen them both given an equal footing, and believe another solution was not only possible, but wiser. Further, I believe another solution would have been in the long term better interest of all concerned. Especially, Elian. |
