A KICK IN THE REAR
 

Here we sit.  We watch and wait.  The Juan Gonzalez family suffers on.  Everything is going according to plan--his Miami relatives' plan, that is.  The more they've been allowed to call the shots, the bolder they have become.  Unbelievably, those who illegally hold Elian have found in our officials accomplices willing to bend over backwards to appease them.  Ironically, the majority in this country are having to submit to the dictates of the "liberty" loving, "democracy" lauding, minuscule faction--the Cuban American National Foundation.  The absurd, unpatriotic result is that American citizens must suffer on, forced to be at the mercy of "Elian's" lawyers as they devise ways to thwart enforcement of U.S. regulations.  In delay is their victory over the law.

Today, we stand as witnesses to an inept government whose officials are permitting this case to play out in a public spectacle just so they can get off the hot seat.  Our executive branch has circled its wagons as it, too, watches and waits.  However, while we have looked to them to lead us, they can only cross their fingers and wish that some Lone Ranger will come riding out of nowhere to save the day for them.  Here we have our public servants who have sworn to uphold the law failing at their jobs, failing to fulfill their sacred responsibilities, and failing the American people.

Consequently, we have been abandoned.  Although it is clearly in our best interest as citizens to be protected from the abuse of lawlessness, we are in the custody of a phantom guardian.  We're "home alone," left to fend for ourselves due to blatant neglect by that authority.  Through his inaction the President--himself, the supreme head of the INS--has now made us civic orphans, when what we needed from him was that he prevail.  That immense sound of inertia we've heard has been the creation of a power vacuum.  For, onto the political field absent the actions of the highest elected ruler, there have rushed all sorts of contestants engaging in a grab for power made available by default.  The welcome mat is out for anyone to run our Nation according to his personal point of view.

Every day of its inglorious treatment of Mr. Gonzalez's family, our Government sinks deeper into the depths of disgrace.  Sans red face, it has displayed naked hypocrisy.  While the U.S., wearing its white hat, can condemn global bad guys like Saddam Hussein for not keeping their word, it flagrantly fails to make good on its own.  Our Nation, in the person of Mary A. Ryan, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, who offered sworn testimony in Washington, D.C., on January 24, 2000, has spelled out in explicit detail its policy dictating the return of Elian.  It's on the record for all the world to see.  How can we now break the golden rule of foreign policy as put forth in and by this official document?  Is it all right because Cuba is communist and we don't have to be true to our word with our enemy?  Is it just old-fashioned to believe that the character of a nation really does matter?

So, what of national honor?  This is a time that surely will test our souls.  With the country facing an internal emergency, all bickering must stop; and the division must be healed by uniting behind our Nation's word.  There should go out this clarion call to action on the part of all Americans.  For those who still have doubts about where Elian should live:  Doubt no more.  For those who think Elian should stay here, who have been disagreeing with Mr. Gonzalez's demand for the return of his son, based on Cuba being communist:  Disagree no more.  Because the U.S. has spoken, that settles it once and for all.  It's the duty of every citizen to rally behind the Nation.

And keep its word, our Nation must.  If we fail, the distrust sown will cost us dearly.  Without integrity on the part of every nation, world peace is impossible.  Without integrity on the part of every citizen, local order is only possible via the police.  Any national violation of ethics will trickle down into everyday practice and unravel the very fabric of our society.  For, the real security of a nation rests not in military might, nor in economic gains, but solely in the noble hearts of its people.  Overlook this breach of morality and only in hindsight will we see this episode as having been the turning point in the ultimate war of values.  Without a victory of morals now, this day will go down in infamy as the time all across our land when duty was considered a joke, when honor became the province of fools, and when trust got you a kick in the rear.

Yes, we lose if we don't send Elian home.  That's every, single, last one of us.
 

Jules Dervaes
March 1, 2000