A Theory on Today

Looking for opinions on this:

What do nearly all wars in the 21^st century have in common? It is not weapons nor physical combat. It is neither victory nor defeat. In fact, they are not wars in the traditional sense of the word at all. 21^st century conflicts have created a new type of war: a war of ideologies. 

While it is certainly true that every war throughout the course of history has been conducted in an effort to put forth a belief or an idea, not every war has had a nebulous enemy. Instead of war as a direct clash of good vs. evil, 21^st century post-modernism has reshaped war into a contest in which differing ideologies compete for first place: a sort of survival of the fittest, if you will. This has redefined conflict so that it is no longer about good vs. evil, but rather it is about the most popular idea v. the least popular idea. The dangers of such a conflict is that it sacrifices truth and is never-ending. 

With a constantly changing popular idea and without a clear enemy, there is no consistent and unchanging definition of good and evil, and there is no clear end in sight. America finds itself in that very position right now through the war on terror and the war on drugs. If it is not careful, America could become mired in a constant state of war of ideologies, and unfortunately a war of ideologies is far more dangerous than armed conflict.

 Key wars of the 21^st century have demonstrated the affects of a war without a clear enemy. First, America has only been able to combat the face of the enemy, not the root cause of the problem. For example, in the war on drugs in Mexico, the US and Mexico have successfully taken out the heads of organizations, but have been unable to eradicate the drug trafficking organizations. In the war on terror, the US has taken out Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and other key terrorist leaders, but terrorism still thrives in the Middle East. 

Today, the organizational structure of gangs, cartels, and terrorists are created for the purpose of achieving multi-generational legacies. The enemy we face today is not a single leader seeking power for only himself, but rather a leader seeking power for his ideology. Thus, 21^st century organizations are united not solely by a hunger for power, but by ideologies deeply imbedded within their organizational structures.

Sadly, America has failed to recognize this new type of war that it faces. While the US has gone after the clearest thing they could attack, key leaders of violent organizations, they have not recognized the new way in which they must engage the world. No longer will the strategy of taking out a single leader achieve the desired result. And in fact, armed combat, while often crucial, is not necessarily the best strategy in these conflicts. 21^st century terrorists and cartel leaders are savvy. They engage in irrational behavior for the sake of an ideology; perhaps making it the most rational thing they can do. Rather than entangling America in long wars that miss the enemy rather than engage them, the US must take on a strategy that attacks the core of the problem: the ideologies themselves.

Unfortunately, post-modernism has caused America to lose its set definitions of good and evil. In a world that believes that good and evil are subjective terms left up to the individual to determine, America has lost its most important weapon: truth. When everything is left up to vague definitions, survival of the fittest is all the world has left. In this sense, we have reduced war to a mere competition, a competition no longer between good and evil, but between the most popular idea at the time and the least popular idea at the time. In reality, America has effectually eliminated the idea of evil so that it can artificially win a battle. 

But the fact of the matter is… we haven’t won. We just think we have. The artificial boosts of confidence that we receive from victoriously killing Osama bin Laden only last in the moment that we think we’ve defeated the least popular idea. We haven’t. We’re merely waiting around for the next leader to rise so that we can defeat the next least popular idea.  Thus, the biggest danger in the 21^st century is not armed combat, but instead the monster of post-modernism: that nebulous, ever-changing most popular idea, something that is never ending and never dies…unless we restore truth.

His Strength is My Freedom

I now know what it means to be free.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." ~ 2 Corinthians 3:17

I sat down with my prayer journal in hand---intending to write out all of my frustrations, but what came out were prayers of thanksgiving and an unforgettable lesson.

The Lord pointed out my fears of failure. I was afraid of failing friends and family, but most of all, I was afraid of failing myself.

What if my plans didn't work out? What if I was incapable of accomplishing my dreams? What if circumstances locked me into situations that would hinder me from reaching my goals?

There was a clear pattern. It was all about me.

Suddenly, the Lord began to show me that the specific blessings that He had given me--- a wonderful family, the sweetest of friends, an incredible boyfriend, and the ability to possess the internship of my dreams. All of these things were not accomplished by me.

The internship was the specific example that the Lord used to teach me that I can do nothing in my own strength. I didn't deserve this opportunity, but despite my less-than-perfect grades, despite my imperfect writing and researching skills, the Lord gave it to me. It was in His plans for me.

I sat there for a second, unsure of what He was really trying to teach me. And then it hit. There is absolutely nothing that I can do in my own strength. And for the first time, recognizing my finite limitations, I felt free!

Yes, I know that sounds strange. But recognizing my limitations, I knew that I must place everything in the Lord's hands. My heart had to belong to Him, my dreams had to be of Him, and my life needed to be characterized by an unfailing trust.

A flood of peace poured over me. 

Placing all of my dreams in His hands did not make me sure that they would come true. But I knew that I one things was sure: He has the best plans for me, greater than I could ever imagine. And if those plans required that I experience hardship,  He would use those circumstances to grow me closer to Him!

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." ~Romans 8:20-21

Liberated. Brought into the freedom and glory as a child of God. I finally understood it. And I wasn't afraid of the future anymore, or afraid that I would fail those around me. Because suddenly I realized that the hardest thing that I would have to do in life was to follow the teachings of my God!

No more toiling over the plans that I had for me. No more questioning my personal strength.

No. Now I can truly lean into my Lord, knowing that He knows the plans that He has for me and I don't have to know them now. I simply have to trust that He will reveal them in time.

Freedom comes in giving things over to the Lord, in recognizing our  own weakness, in discovering His strength.

The Link Between Human Trafficking, Immigration and Drug Cartels

Crime-Ridden Mexican Border Fosters Human Trafficking
Olivia Snow
August 11, 2011 at 2:00 pm
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/08/11/crime-ridden-mexican-border-fosters-human-trafficking/

Drugged, raped, and sold for sex. This was the life of Maria (not her real name), a 16-year-old Mexican girl who was kidnapped by a local gang and lured into the sex trade.
She was a lucky one, rescued from the criminal gang.
Many others were not so lucky. Several of Maria’s friends were stolen from their homes, abused, and then sold into the U.S. or brutally killed. Annually, close to 100,000 young boys and girls from Latin America are trafficked by gangs, smugglers, and members of transnational criminal organizations.
U.S. efforts to combat trafficking have raised awareness on the issue but in many cases are unable to address the roots of the problem: a lackadaisical enforcement of immigration laws and an ad hoc border security strategy.
Drug traffickers increasingly prey upon vulnerable immigrants making the treacherous trek across the U.S. border. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar noted the ties between drug smuggling, illegal immigration, and human trafficking:
    All the violence that occurs, against illegal aliens…occur at the hands of smugglers…The smugglers are working in coordination with the drug cartels and the drug trafficking organizations.
Los Zetas, one of Mexico’s most violent transnational criminal organizations, has even started its own prostitution ring. One U.S. official noted, “They’re starting to change their business model and branching out into things like sex trafficking…They realize it is a lucrative way to generate revenue, and it is low-risk.”
For the cartels and other trafficking organizations, human trafficking has the allure of astounding profits. Globally, the human trafficking industry has profits as high as $32 billion annually, and immigrants illegally crossing the southern border are easy targets. Since there are currently few negative consequences for trafficking, the promise of increased revenue drives many transnational criminal organizations to expand their operations to include drug and human trafficking.
The smugglers make promises of a better life and a more profitable job. This tactic has worked countless times, luring person after person, immigrant after immigrant, into forced labor or sex trafficking. Such promises are enticing to many Latin Americans, who desperately need a job that pays sufficient wages.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement worker Delbert Richburg, smugglers “sell big lies…The traffickers seek out teenagers in remote towns in Latin America with the promise of getting jobs in restaurants or caring for children. On arriving here, they keep them captive and isolated.”
Annually, 27 million people are trafficked, and they are in need of help. Strategies that recognize the root of the problem—a crime-ridden border—will help to provide a solution. Amnesty is not the answer.
Victims of human trafficking are trapped in a cycle of abuse, and those who attempt to escape are often met with death. Maria told the story of a friend who tried to escape—she recalls the gang members pouring gasoline over her friend, lighting her on fire, and continuing to beat the young girl even as she burned to death.
Justice must be served. And those like Maria and the 27 million others who are in bondage to modern slavery must be set free.
Washington and the Obama Administration cannot turn a blind eye to the daily tragedy of millions.

The Link Between Immigration and Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is another issue that demands the attention of America...especially our youth. Since we are the next generation that will deal with the problems of the future, the time for awareness is now. The thing is, human trafficking is inextricably linked to our broken immigration system. But broken systems don't just demand the attention of policymakers or people in Washington, instead, they require that there be greater awareness amongst the American people. The promises of the American government and the American dream require an active and well-informed citizenry.

Below is an excerpt from an Op-ed I wrote at a workshop:

Marika was a very pretty girl. She was the typical sort of girl who would work a few jobs for the sake of her family. But in the blink of an eye, she was no longer that same typical girl. Marika was invited to take a trip to Tel Aviv, where she was promised a waitressing job that would provide a stable income. While at first Marika was uncomfortable with the idea of uprooting herself from her home, she eventually accepted the job offer.

Little did she know she was now a victim of human trafficking.

Marika was forced to have sex with customers day in and day out, wearing nothing but skimpy lingerie and threatened daily with beatings if she did not produce sufficient income. She was indebted to her trafficker because he paid her way to travel to Tel Aviv. Since she could only keep a minuscule part of the money she made, she knew that she would be a captive of her trafficker for a very long time. With no clear way out, Marika was left fearing that the rest of her life would be spent in eternal enslavement.

But Marika is not the only one.

Twenty-seven million. That is the number of people human trafficked each year. In fact there are many “Marikas” who are forced into sex slavery, slave labor, or are kidnapped and forced to join cartels, gangs or other criminal organizations. In more recent years, key organizations such as International Justice Mission (IJM) and the Polaris Project have brought about greater awareness on the issue, but there is much work to be done.

Within the last few weeks, the United States released its annual Global Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), a report that surveys 184 nations’ compliance with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). TIP categorizes all of the countries into four Tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch list and Tier 3. The tiers measure compliance; 1 being the best and 3 being the worst. Once a country is placed on Tier 3, the United States has the right to sanction them for noncompliance.

There are 23 countries on the Tier 3 Watch List.

Those countries that are placed on the Tier 3 Watch List are there because their governments have made little demonstrable effort to combat trafficking, prosecute traffickers, or create public awareness campaigns as preventive measures.

But the United States is far from exempt from human trafficking. An estimated 100,000 victims are trafficked into the United States annually. While government efforts and awareness are important in the fight against modern-day slavery, there is much more that needs to be done.

It has been said that human trafficking is a “sexy” political issue, but to classify it as such is both demeaning and undermines the importance of the issue. There are many political issues that come and go, blowing in the wind only to dissolve into a mere mist in our imagination.

But modern-day slavery cannot be ignored.

It takes more than just government sanctioning to bring about awareness on such a key issue. First, it’s going to take a grassroots recognition in the individual high-level human trafficking countries such as the Sudan, Venezuela, Cambodia and Cuba that there is a problem.

But it’s also going to take comprehensive reforms.

While U.S. sanctioning may help to bring about awareness on the issue, it cannot provide whole scale resolution nor does it provide truly preventive measures to combat human trafficking. The steps will be different for each country, but many of the issues with human trafficking relate to problems inherent in the immigration system.

Because many immigrants employ coyotes to make their way across the border, particularly the U.S.-Mexico border, many are trafficked. According to a Heritage Foundation study, an estimated 17,500 are trafficked annually from Latin America. If more legal routes were provided, fewer people would be forced to go through underground operations to immigrate to the United States. This would decrease their chances of immigrants falling prey to traffickers.

However, beyond the logistical issues that could be aided through immigration reform and the sanctioning currently in place, human trafficking needs to be recognized as a moral imperative. Many countries, such as Cuba, experience high levels of sex tourism and trafficking because their governments actually encourage the growth of the industry. Trafficking in persons happens for a reason and that is because there is a demand for illicit sex.

The result: 27 million boys and girls just like Marika. Enslaved.

Human trafficking is screaming for a solution. With the help of groups like International Justice Mission and the Polaris Project coupled with U.S. sanctioning, the United States can move toward combating modern-day slavery. But this issue is calling for something more. The millions of slaves worldwide are in need of help. They’re reaching out for a lifeline.

Will it be there?

World, it’s your turn to answer…

Debunking the Myths of Immigration

Immigration is truly one of my passions that I really want to share with those around me. It is an issue that I believe the Lord has placed on my heart. I think that it is an issue that the youth of America should keep close to their heart, particularly because many of our parents or grandparents were immigrants. The following excerpt is from an Op-ed that I wrote for a writing workshop:

The Free World is best exemplified through the movement of people. Not the unmitigated free movement of people, but the free exchange of goods, products, ideas and people. Unfortunately, America’s broken immigration system is impeding its ability to experience the full benefits of this exchange.

Since I was young, I have felt called to deal with America’s broken immigration system. As I researched and debated many of the issues facing the American immigration system in 2007, I recognized that the time for change was fast approaching. In fact, many of the problems we were experiencing in 2007 are the same we face in 2011.

As I debated in front of countless people all across the nation, I saw a pattern of myths that had become deeply ingrained in the American citizenry. Failure to reform our immigration system is, in fact, a result of a lack of understanding of the immigrants themselves. The motives, benefits and people who make up our immigrant population are not to be feared as many may think, but rather are to be valued.

The first misconception is that immigrants take American jobs. This is not true. Immigration responds to the laws of supply and demand. This is proved by the decrease in immigration since the economic downturn. When there aren’t jobs available in America, immigrants won’t come, but when there are, we should welcome them with open arms because, in reality, they aren’t stealing American jobs.

Studies show that for every one job taken by a high-skilled immigrant, five additional American jobs are created. In fact, immigrants are the founders of many profitable companies like Sun Microsystems, Google and Yahoo. Through their innovation, immigrants actually help fuel the economy.

However, it is not just the high-skilled immigrants that benefit America. In fact, low-skilled immigrants contribute to the economy through their consumer purchases.

Additionally, many lower-skilled immigrants come only temporarily. According to a study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Research Center, 72 percent of Mexican migrant workers plan to come temporarily. This means that rather than leaching off our economy, they are here in America only when the country is in need of them.

The second misconception is that immigrants are a drain on our economy. On the contrary, roughly three-fourths of undocumented immigrants pay payroll taxes. There is even a special tax code established for undocumented immigrants. Beyond that, immigrants pay $7 billion per year into the Social Security system, but cannot and do not collect benefits.

Beyond paying taxes, immigrants shop at the grocery store, the mall, purchase cars and household items, just like you and I. This, in and of itself, contributes millions to the American economy. According to the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, “Immigration is a significant contributor to the rapid growth of the Hispanic and Asian-American consumer markets, which together accounted for an estimated $1.46 trillion in buying power in 2008.”

The third misconception is that immigrants are a threat to national security. Most immigrants come to America in search of a better life, complete with a job, and a safe home to raise their children. They are in search of the American dream, not desiring to destroy it. Many cite the example of 9/11, a rare occurrence where legal immigrants, or immigrants who passed through all our background checks, circumvented the system. Let me be clear: Regardless of their legal status, radical people will seek to harm America. But the majority of immigrants do not have malicious intent.

At the end of the day, the national security concerns that stem from the 9/11 attacks are more a failure of a broken immigration system than it is a sign that immigrants are bad.

The final misconception is the worst of all. It is the misconception that apathy will fix the immigration system. Our country has sadly failed to realize to that the very fiber of our nation is made up of immigrant’s blood, sweat and tears.

It is time to provide legal routes that allow our nation to reap the benefits of a solid, safe, concrete and comprehensive immigration system. It is time to allow for the exchange of ideas, innovation and goods. But most important, it’s time to allow for the free movement of people.