Is Chaos At The Gates?

Is chaos at the gates? 

We just observed the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. If you were there, and had never experienced real potentially life-changing chaos before, you did then. 

And the day before that, a young man described as a conservative activist was assassinated as he spoke in public. At first, it did seem like a professional hit - and it "hit" not only the dead man's family and friends, but many others, including the President, who declared flags to be flown at half staff through Sunday. Turns out now, there's a suspect in custody - a young guy from the state where the killing occurred.

Meanwhile, the financial markets roll merrily along, being held together by some sort of unseen magical "glue" in the face of the many reasons that there should be at least some sort of dislocation if not an outright stock market crash or other crisis.

But back to chaos.

Chaos may not be on the tip of everyone's tongue, nor may it be front and center in our experience every day. But it sure does seem to be a force of nature that's been building for some months, no, years now.

Let's focus than on our government.

This may be the most obvious to many of us when it comes to chaos. Indeed, the media has happily fed this sense of chaos as it reports every change of mind and policy of our current President. And, in fairness to the media (for once!) they have a point. Our current head of state, in an effort to change things, seems to be using what he considers a kind of "deal-making" technique in addressing changes in government and changes in foreign policy. (Isn't that his forte?) It's certainly not traditional diplomacy! Some see this as a clever approach. Others see it as an inappropriate and dysfunctional way to run a government.

We'll leave judgement to others here. But let's concede, for one thing, that the constant change in tariff policy has caused those responsible for business planning to sometimes tear their hair out. Does this impact your own business, or the place that you work? If you run a business, you've got to at least have your antennae up to catch the latest iteration of this every-changing tariff policy.

And what about the whole illegal immigration issue? This touches all of us in various ways. The most direct would be those of us who work in an industry that has come to rely on such individuals. Some quick examples:farms that need pickers: perhaps a good chunk of the construction industry, especially local home builders. 

This has been going on for a long time now. And some think it's best to leave well enough alone. This is especially true in the cases where the workers are simply trying to provide for their families. They work hard, keep their nose to the grindstone, and don't cause trouble. But what of that minority who do cause trouble like gang members who perpetrate violence, are involved the drug trade and human trafficking? 

Well, it's a complex issue, but there's one simple common denominator: folks have come into this country illegally. Yes, our own government allowed this. And yes, there was likely collusion with businesses that have benefited from what has been basically cheap labor. But now the shoe is on the other foot. And in the effort to rectify past wrongs, we've seen some examples of over-reach, or, in some cases, outright mistakes made in rounding up suspects. Some of us even know individuals who have been unfairly treated. 

One thing we may keep in mind here, if the government was indifferent to millions coming across our borders illegally - perhaps even encouraging this to some degree - perhaps we must consider this in how we rectify the situation. Consider those who came here under the impression that the government would look the other way, as it indeed did in many instances. They are here now working hard, with their families, perhaps having established a decent life, without relying on government assistance programs. Is it right now to run them out of town on a rail, along with the bad elements? Just a thought.

Moving on, what about efforts to curtail the government's budget, eliminate some agencies, lay off federal employees. We may believe such efforts are a long time coming. But disruption - and potentially chaos - are laced through these efforts. Some of us may work for companies that have come to rely on a financial relationship with the government that is now threatened. But all of us have been subjected - through paying our taxes - to support a government that has far exceeded in size what anyone might have imagined. Certainly this would be true of our Founders, but it seems that as each decade goes by, the growth of government, despite efforts at control, suck up more and more of our tax dollars. 

Still, people will be laid off, agencies that will no longer provide benefits to some, have mixed up the pot - to what extent, we still don't know. (Anyone working for the federal government or, who has family, friend or neighbor that do, knows and feels this.)

So now cometh the weekend. Will we seek and find some respite from all this? If so, it's a temporary fix. Indeed, perhaps our own personal lives bring us a dose of chaos, little or big. In any case, we'll do our best to take advantage of the respite from daily labor, more so on Sunday (the Lord's Day) than Saturday (a partial work day in these parts). 

With chaos at the gates, it's the least we can do for ourselves.