Tom Finneran: Money For Nothing—Bombers’ Family on Welfare
Friday, May 03, 2013
The Brothers Tsarnaev set off more than the two bombs they are alleged to have planted at the Boston Marathon a few weeks ago. In fact, it appears that they have also detonated a political bomb that will tumble candidates and shape debates through the next presidential election cycle.
Immigration and welfare now loom larger than ever as issues and these two Chechen “refugees” might have triggered a dormant American anger about being played for patsies. If so, the arousal of that anger will prove to be a healthy response. It will mean that America can sober up before its continuing abject appeasement consumes its culture.
It is a source of wonderment that many of our political leaders tie themselves in knots in their efforts to placate the demands of emigrants to America. On what planet would any nation degrade its customs, its language, and its laws to appease those who have come voluntarily to its shores? Appeasement has always had a bad name and it invariably leads to bad outcomes. Those who come here, by hook or by crook, legally or illegally, should be making the accommodation to our traditions rather than the reverse. What ever happened to the expectation of assimilation? And why would we debase ourselves in a wasted effort to please our critics? Do we have a national suicide wish?
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTI came across an expression the other day that captures my view and it’s this----that America itself is the entitlement of a lifetime, much more so than any of its programs and its benefits. Some of us were blessed in life’s lottery by simply being born here. Most of us still recognize that that simple fact is the greatest single blessing of our lives. We know instinctively that America’s freedoms provide the ecosystem from which all our other opportunities and achievements flow. Ironically enough, I have to believe that folks who emigrate here from their native homeland recognize that same fact of life. Thus they risk life and limb to get here. Once here we should and we often do extend a hearty American welcome to them. But we need not offer apologies, programs, and privileges that have not been earned.
Which brings me to the brothers Tsarnaev. In an age of contrived outrage, where even elementary postal changes are presented as scandals and outrages upon the public, it is truly outrageous that this family could receive the extraordinary status of “refugees” in need of “political asylum”. Maybe I’m nuts but my view is that such categories must be severely limited to people whose lives are in absolute and immediate danger due to political persecution. Even then, we must recognize that we cannot possibly accept all such people. And we need not apologize for that reality.
In the aftermath of the Marathon bombings and the apprehension of the suspect brothers we read of their political refugee/asylum status. Then we read of travel back and forth to their native lands. We further learn that their parents are back “home”, living in the native land that they had fled. These frequent flier excursions involving a family which has claimed a very special status make a mockery of the most basic words in the English language. It’s pretty clear, is it not, that this whole episode was a charade? A charade played out to take advantage of America’s timidity about being criticized for its “racism”, its “xenophobia”, its “intolerance”, and all the other phony accusations brought forward by “advocates” who detest America and its history. One wishes that those advocates would depart our shores for the many earthly paradises of their imaginations.
The primary and infuriating charade played out by this family apparently only whetted their appetites for taking more from America and Americans. Thus we learn that various members of the family have been receiving sundry forms of welfare for several years. How is it that able-bodied folks game the system so readily? Welfare has always been a hot-button issue and very few Americans begrudge the needy and the disabled the safety net they need for survival. What Americans cannot stand about the welfare state is the lifestyle that it seems to spawn, the multi-year multi-generational dependence as well as the attitude that the benefits are a God-given right rather than a gift from others, workers and taxpayers.
Is it too much to ask for a little humility, a little effort, perhaps some gratitude? Good heaven, the people I know best and admire most, work very hard, pay lots in taxes, and hope that they can continue to provide for their families. They ask for very little in return, again recognizing that to simply live in America is an immeasureable treasure. Perhaps the only thing that they truly resent is to be played as suckers. And it’s a huge frustration for them to be told that some far-fetched right to privacy prevents them from being told the facts of the brothers Tsarnaev life on the dole. If, as the Governor says, that it’s “the law” that prevents full and timely disclosure, then he, the Governor, should propose its repeal. We need not be passive in the face of such laws.
And mark my words, the general public will neither forgive nor forget this ugly episode. The reckoning comes calling.
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