3/31/21

By Josh Rubin

They make it sound complicated. Like a puzzle no one has figured out how to solve. Intricate. Elusive.

They deliberately confuse the drug war with migration. They portray our country as in dire straits, near some kind of threshold that will tip us into bankruptcy and privation if we open our doors to outsiders.

They imply that it involves a delicate negotiation to align us with other nations and balance all of our interests. They allude to cultural differences that will spoil some idyll of national lifestyle that was etched into our souls by Father Knows Best.

They reach to tickle our xenophobic funnybones. Play ominous music with floor-rattling thunder resonating with our fears.

All the while, it’s a deadly game of hide-the-bunny. The bunny being the wealth of the world, and the place they hide it is in the large coffers of a small class of people who arrange these acts of misdirection. All too much for us to understand. Leave it to the wise policymakers, who can navigate the labyrinth. Nothing to see here.

But it is not what they say it is. It is this. Too few people have too much. Far too much. Too many people have far too little. When those people feel their lives threatened, they do what they can to survive. Sometimes that means they migrate. From a place without to a place with. Without safety. Without food. Without houses.

To a place they hope has those things. To a place where people are worried about losing those things. In a world where there are a small number of people that are hoarding those things.

And it is simple, although they try to complicate matters. Here it is.

There is enough. Find the bunny.