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A Gulag Is A Gulag. The US In General Is Not

 22 years ago in an essay, I said that I preferred Bush 43 to be re-elected president, for lots of policy reasons. But on a personal note, the Democrats acted like our country itself was a gulag, and we were all allegedly locked in it.

Happy warriors usually win; dour people embarrassed for the very country they intend to govern usually don’t. In the interest of principled criticism, I definitely know that “enhanced interrogation” and the abuse of terrorist militants violates longstanding human rights commitments.

In the present day, ICE detentions that ignore judicial orders to obey habeas corpus have a gulag-adjacent quality. Any lawyer advocating for basic human rights can say anything they want. I didn’t vote for Donald Trump; I didn’t appoint Stephen Miller. This is quite apart from illegal immigration, and the probable likelihood that any such people also are violent criminals. In other words, when ICE agents are protecting Americans and guests from monsters along with other law enforcement, they are on firmer ground than when they are deporting a Dad or Grandmother for being in an irregular situation.

That noted Republican Bill Maher (sarcasm) has shown a chart that far fewer illegal immigrants were deported or denied entry to the US under Biden than other recent presidents in both parties. Therefore, I have to concede that “open borders” may be a legitimate criticism there. But as I have said, personally, I don’t care how many Spanish speakers and foreign nationals are around, as long as they don’t make trouble. Even so, fears of non-assimilation and a loss of common culture are not, by themselves, rooted in bigotry and xenophobia.

Right now, Democrats are viewed as being out of touch with the concerns of ordinary citizens, in favor of idiosyncratic and ideological activists. Even if they win the midterms this fall, I don’t see them attaining majority party status for several cycles at least.

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