Opinion-Editorial
By Jeff Wagner
Many readers may have noticed the billboard in Paradise Valley advocating for more common sense. The dictionary defines common sense as the sensible understanding and application of basic intelligence allowing for plain understanding, and a central component of the ability to make good decisions or judgements. Positions such as support for law enforcement, strong borders, integrity in women’s sports, free speech-anti censorship, parental rights, healthcare cost transparency and reducing fraud are but a few examples of common-sense issues in American politics.
Some political and ideological influences, however, run counter to common sense. In today’s political climate, there’s a disturbing tendency to reflexively oppose policy positions with limited, if any, substantive understanding of the factors involved in favor of these ideologies—without any real-world evidence or data to support them. Instead, it’s become commonplace for people to default to a contrarian position than one representative of intentional consideration.
Among the other signs along US-89 just south of Mallard’s Rest is one extoling the importance of defending the US Constitution. Time has proven the US Constitution to be the best governing document ever created by a sovereign nation in human history. It is critically important we each do what we can to protect and defend the Constitution. The current election cycle has seen a disturbing rise in candidates whose policies are completely antithetical to the Constitution.
For example, several states have declared “sanctuary” status over federal law, establishing a dangerous precedent—arguably, in defiance of the Supremacy clause (Article VI) of the Constitution. This slippery slope could lead to any jurisdiction declaring itself a “sanctuary” from any portion of the Constitution they choose. Since 2018, an influx of immigration sanctuaries has been observed, some of which is potentially attributable to lax immigration enforcement during the Biden administration. Some sanctuary states and cities have since adopted lenient judicial policies, leading to the release of criminal aliens who have and will continue to inflict pain and suffering, up to and including murder, on US citizens. The Constitution, as well as common sense, contradict “sanctuary” policies. The negative safety and financial outcomes outweigh any identifiable upside.
In short, the juice is not worth the squeeze. Sanctuary policies are a prime example of suicidal empathy where, in the final analysis, a misguided effort to “help” does more harm than good. This is especially ironic when the “help” is ascribed by some undefined, qualitative measure of virtue. Unless your goal is chaos and anarchy, it’s well past time for more common sense and we absolutely must do better.