“Give Me Your Poor”?

“This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.”

Padme Amidala’s famous line from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is hauntingly famous. Its haunting nature is heightened when we look at the United States. What was our nation founded on? Liberty.

“… among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”¹

“… secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”²

“… with liberty and justice for all.”³

Do you see the critical words there?

“Liberty”—as the Pledge of Allegiance concludes—“for all!”

Watching the inauguration today—knowing some of the executive orders being signed—I couldn’t help thinking about that quote from Star Wars Episode III. Admittedly, every time a new President has taken office since the movie came out in 2005, I’ve been made to think about this quote, but it’s taken on a whole new meaning after the executive orders today.

Now please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I’m not calling President Trump Emperor Palpatine. My prayers are with the man, that he would grow in wisdom and love as he exercises his responsibility as the 47th President of the United States of America. But there is time to draw a comparison between Padme’s words and our founding documents. And not only is there time. It is needed.

The Declaration of Independence

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”⁴

This document declared our separation from England and resulted in a war. Despite its statement that “all men are created equal,” it did nothing to end the scourge of racism (African, Native American, etc.) plaguing our nation. It is lamentable that this scourge still hasn’t ended. MLK referred to the Declaration of Independence as applying to all Americans in his “I Have a Dream” speech.⁵

But note the language of the Declaration of Independence. It uses universal language. It does not specify “American citizens.” It specifies “all men,” which naturally includes all women and all who identify by some other gender as well. “All men” are all people, irregardless of national identity.

I have a dream that someday we will recognize this and stop dehumanizing those different from us.

The Preamble to the Constitution

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure [sic] domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence [sic], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”⁶

This document officially founded our nation. And while many conservatives want to emphasize the “domestic tranquility” line by documenting the dangers illegal immigrants pose to American citizens,⁷ this kind of rhetoric ignores the fact that many immigrants are merely trying to escape dangerous situations in their home countries, make better lives for their families, or experience freedoms they’ve never experienced before. To view all immigrants as dangers to our nation, threatening to deport them all, is incredibly dehumanizing. We all know, or are descended from, immigrants ourselves, and we are now enjoying the blessings of liberty, longing to pass these blessings down to our posterity as well. We should strive to make it easier for them to become legal immigrants, not vilify their attempts because of a bureaucratic government.

If we uphold “domestic tranquility” by indiscriminately deporting, or even simply threatening to deport, all illegal immigrants, this will negatively affect “the general welfare” in the long-term. And it makes a mockery of “the blessings of liberty” that the Declaration of Independence said was “for all.”

I have a dream that the process to become a legal immigrant will be simplified, so that only convicted criminals with ill-intent might experience deportation from the United States of America.

The Pledge of Allegiance

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”⁸

Most conversations about the “Pledge of Allegiance” revolve around the inclusion of the phrase “under God.” However, that debate is a red herring that distracts from the point of the Pledge of Allegiance. It is lamentable that people don’t know this. If we break down the pledge grammatically, the flag stands for the nation, and the nation has “liberty and justice for all.” Again, not simply Americans. It has (read: should have) liberty for all who would seek shelter and security within its borders.

While it is true that this is not—and never was—a founding document in our country, it was meant to be a formative document—proven by the fact that American students are typically expected to recite it every day in school. It should be forming our citizens into a people that believes in “liberty and justice for all”—not egotistical, ethnocentric individuals. But alas, students today sit and scroll on their smartphones instead of standing for the Pledge.

I have a dream of American citizens working for liberty and justice for all.

Conclusion

America used to be called a melting pot, and while it is true that the people coming in aren’t melting into the “American mold” anymore—flying flags of their country of origin, following traditions from their homeland, failing to learn the “official” language⁹ of the United States of America—perhaps part of this is because we view everyone who looks different from us with suspicion. If they’re not truly welcome here, it’s no wonder they cling to things from where they are welcome.

But the problem isn’t solved by kicking them out. The solution is making it easier to become a legal immigrant.

But even making them legal immigrants doesn’t ultimately answer that problem. What we really need is to again become the United States of America. But that’s a blog for another day.

In this with you.

Thanks for reading.

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Notes and References

1. The Declaration of Independence (1776). Emphasis added. ↩︎
2. The United States Constitution (1787), Preamble. Emphasis added. ↩︎
3. The Pledge of Allegiance (1954). Emphasis added. ↩︎
4. The Declaration of Independence (1776). Emphasis added. ↩︎
5. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I Have A Dream” (1963), paragraph 4. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm ↩︎
6. The United States Constitution (1787), Preamble. Emphasis added. ↩︎
7. Note the tone of Megan Basham, “Illegal Immigration: Strangers, Neighbors, and Aliens,” in Shepherds for Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda (New York: HarperCollins, 2024), 31-50. She starts the chapter by describing a tragic occurrence at the hands (and vehicle) of an illegal immigrant, which serves as an emotional appeal to get her readers to agree with everything she writes afterwards. ↩︎
8. The Pledge of Allegiance (1954). Emphasis added. The last clause has existed since 1892. ↩︎
9. The United States did not have an official language (as of: 1/21/2025), but this did not prevent people from acting like we did. ↩︎