Unsolicited advice for GOP candidates on the heels of Paris’ terror

Certain as I am that the GOP frontrunners will flick aside this unsolicited and unwanted input from a single voter, there are some issues that require addressing. For reference, having been raised by an old-time democrat who ran campaigns for newcomers like Mark Hatfield (yes, the history goes that far back and crossed party lines) I’ve walked the inside lane of liberalism but discovered my conservatism decades ago while running a newspaper. There’s nothing like investigating real facts to reconfigure an idealistic mind – if only the tactic worked among today’s youth but that’s another column. To the point, these tidbits of “wisdom” derive from experience not emotional reaction, the hallmark of progressivism.

There are less than a handful of candidates in the GOP line-up that have a solid grasp of the Constitution. Whether that is due to a glossing over the terminology by applying today’s definitions to anachronistic language is uncertain. Here is one telltale sign of understanding the one and only Law of the Land, the Constitution: the 14th Amendment. Too many in the republican field are swallowing the liberal interpretation that anyone born on U.S. soil is an automatic citizen. This is patently untrue and requires only a nominal comprehension to capture the intent of the Constitution’s authors made plain in the Federalist Papers – case law notwithstanding. Let’s be clear, the Supreme Court of the United States was an afterthought and is not and never has been the final arbiter in any issue of law despite the belief otherwise. The House of Representatives holds the major power among all branches of government as the voice of the People. We won’t enter into the change of the Senate’s representative status with the 17th Amendment. The argument regarding the 14th Amendment is now center stage on a number of fronts, from illegal entrants to our country coming specifically to give birth, to the wholesale importation of so-called refugees from Latin America and Muslim states by federal authorities. In this instance, compassion has no place in the discussion as this nation’s very life is at stake; the first of what is sure to be an onslaught of terror activity like that having just occurred in Paris, November 13, 2015. Here is where the candidates are addressed individually because of their stated platforms or lack thereof.

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The very same day that at least one French citizen returning from Syria and refugees from the same country perpetrated heinous attacks on unarmed Parisians, the first contingent of Syrian refugees landed on our shores in New Orleans. This is not a lone occurrence of unvetted Muslim immigrants being deposited in the United States by our own government. The collusion of Homeland and compassionate organizations like Catholic Charities to create Muslim enclaves within unsuspecting communities throughout the country is perilous. Witness the exponential rise in rapes and violence among the new immigrants in Europe and Scandinavia. As one of the few presidential candidates that knows the implications of this planned incursion of 10,000-plus refugees and whose state was just placed on the front lines, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has been handed a great opportunity to address this grave affront to his constituents’ safety. The sovereignty of the individual republics that comprise the national republic has been challenged by a rogue administration, and Governor Jindal can rise to the occasion with a response that will catapult his campaign onto center stage. His unique position as one of those seeking the highest office in the land gives his voice added weight in this unlawful move by the Obama administration. Other candidates who wield no similar power have spoken out. Jindal, however, speaks from the power of his office and his words and action are awaited regarding the first arrivals of government-sponsored immigrants. Other governors should take action as well, but they are not running for a national election. Senator Ted Cruz must go beyond rhetoric in declaiming the Paris attacks and securing the border. He is still a sitting senator and the events in Europe should embolden him to move in his capacity of office to shame and browbeat the republican leadership to close down the administration’s undermining of our national security. Donald Trump, as the king of bombastic oratory and not claiming Constitutional scholarship, is blasting the president for endangering the country and rightly so. Amid correctly training his words on the administration’s blatant disregard for national security, Trump has run wild with impugning the working of God within others’ hearts. As much as he likes to brandish the Bible, he doesn’t appear to have spent much time in meditating on the miraculous works of Jesus in changing hearts from angry and evil intent to Kingdom works, the Apostle Paul being the most obvious of examples. It may be that Trump has not experienced the humbling hand of Christ in a way that transformed his life as others have and subsequently shared, such as Dr. Ben Carson’s witness. Having lived through a death-defying phenomenon that eventually changed my purpose to one of ministry (including political ministry – no, that is not an oxymoron as my book, Scripture Led Politics, attests), it is incumbent on me to point out Trump’s lack of sensibility in terming such conversion as “stupid.” Should anyone wonder why only three candidates are called out here, it is because these three have displayed the greatest understanding of the threat to this nation, correctly voiced what is needful to protect us, and hold to the continued application of the Law of the Land, the Constitution. Time to ante up.