"Guilt is the source of sorrow, 'tis the fiend, Th' avenging fiend, that follows behind, With whips and slings."  —Nicholas Rowe, English writer, 1674-1718

Nothing can explain how America has gotten into the situation she now finds herself in other than Nicholas Rowe's "whips and slings" on account of the institution of slavery and subsequent racial discrimination that once existed legally in the United States, although most Americans have moved way past the nation's earlier history.  This newly ascendant self-loathing from guilt is reflected in Critical Race Theory, now swamping our public schools.  No amount of factual correction seems to have an impact on its acceptance, the 1776 Report, and other scholarly works notwithstanding.

The Supreme Court, in 1943's West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, already ruled regarding propaganda in public schools:

If there is a fixed star in our constellation, it is that no official ... can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics ... or other matters of opinion. If there are any circumstances which permit such an exception, they do not now occur to us.

Teachers are public officials and are not allowed to indoctrinate public school students with a theory or opinion presented as fact.  Many public schools openly violate this ruling.

Since the Civil War, efforts to rectify past practices regarding race have led to dramatic changes in immigration policy, helped by applying legal theories used in civil rights cases to other areas.  This massive outpouring of federal legislation has had a dramatic effect on our society.  Follow the links below to understand what could turn out to be the unintended consequences of one example of congressional legislation:

Link #1: The 14th Amendment says, in relevant part, "[N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property ... nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law."  In lieu of "person," the word could have been "citizen."  Because the Amendment uses "person," though, non-citizens who enter the jurisdiction of a state are "persons" subject to 14th Amendment protections.  Only "persons" coming by water and docking in the federal enclave of Washington, D.C. would enter the country outside the jurisdiction of a state.

Link #2: Following successful civil rights litigation in the Supreme Court, some leading politicians began re-thinking America's immigration system.  Immigrants for many decades were admitted to the United States based on national origins similar to what then existed in America.  The Hart-Celler Act of 1965 (AKA the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965), instead, emphasized "family reunification" or chain migration as the basis of immigration policy.  The ethnic make-up of America changed within a few decades because of this federal law.

Link #3: The Supreme Court, in 1982's Plyler v. Doe, mandated that K–12 public education must be made available to all children, including those not legally admitted to the United States.

Many believe that those three links reflect our nation's aspirational values, and the leading liberal establishments of the day championed them.  Other groups then used the same legal and moral reasoning to reach their organizational goals.

One such group, advocates for children with disabilities, argued that children who were unable to conform to ordinary cognitive or physical standards associated with public education were being denied their equal protection and due process rights under the 14th Amendment.  We now require that every state identify all children with disabilities within the state, including the homeless and illegal alien children living there.  A child's citizenship status may not be revealed to federal immigration or other authorities.

A child legally deemed "a child with a disability" is entitled to a free, appropriate public education and related services delivered in the least restrictive environment.  These services might include such things as a language interpreter, one-on-one nursing care, and even private schools.  And all of this is at public expense.  Unvetted and unrestricted immigration will undoubtedly include many children with severe disabilities.

Also required are transitional services from school to post-school activities that go on way beyond years normally associated with K–12 education. These services are also at public expense.

If we put everything together, we get this result: start with Link #2 (chain migration) plus our open southern border plus re-settlement of thousands of Afghans from the current chaos in Afghanistan.  Then apply Link #1 (all these people must be accorded citizen's rights).  The result is that, under the 14th Amendment, all these "persons" are entitled not only to free K–12 public education (Link #3), but also the extensive services provided for children deemed to be children with a disability.

Whether what we've created in our nation stems from residual guilt or affirmative benign intents, it cannot be sustained financially.  The above is just one chain out of many that financially burden America.  The source of our sorrow, in addition to guilt, might simply be, "How can the average person keep up with all these unintended consequences of federal policy?"

M. E. Boyd's Apples of Gold — Voices from the Past that Speak to Us Now is available at Amazon (or search for it using the title and subtitle).

Image: Illegal aliens streaming into America.  Twitter screen grab.

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