Remind me of the point

News on television and in papers reports the brain drain going on in America. Research centers on university campuses are being closed. NIH is being gutted. Even the research on a Bird Flu vaccination has gone the way of the tweet.

 Books and entire sections on culture and history are being closed and taken off shelves. Student visas of immigrants who have come to America to contribute to scientific knowledge are being revoked. All migrants regardless of their status are at risk of deportation.

All that potential, all the contribution to knowledge and labor, all the closing of scientific inquiry is being lost as immigrants look to other countries where their contributions will be more greatly appreciated.

America is blinking a “Don’t Come Here” sign. It’s bright red and hot as ICE.

I always thought of America as a “ shining city on a hill,” brimming with opportunity and possibility for anybody who would join in. From all parts of the world, people came with hope for a better future. All of us benefitted from the gifts, the labor, and intellect they shared in this country.

Remind me of the point of all the disruption, slashing and burning of potential and possibility in which America led the world?

Grievance? How will that work for us? What are people so upset about? Open mindedness, inclusion, generosity, hospitality? Education is the whipping boy. Higher education evidently, the threat. Sorry, but that’s lame. Perhaps we are afraid of the competition.

I’ll tell you who is not. China. The Chinese are welcoming research scientists with open arms. The New York Times headline tells it all: “China really wants to attract talented scientists. Trump just helped.”

The Chinese have been pumping money into Research and Development for years. One Chinese scientist is quoted, “America is shooting itself in the foot.” Another pundit said, “America is committing suicide.” The brain drain is real, and we are walking straight into it.

“Between 2010 and 2021, nearly 12,500 scientists of Chinese descent left the United States for China.” Nobel Prizes, goodbye.

This is not a DEI issue. This is about training the brightest and best from around the world in American Universities and Research Labs. This is a world working cooperatively to solve complex problems, find new cures, and preserve the only earth we have.

We may not be suicidal, but we are short sighted. We will not be America First, we will be America, first runner up.

 In our great wisdom money is being cut everywhere across the spectrum. The social safety net is being ripped apart. Schools everywhere are underfunded. Broadly educating people is not the goal, evidently.

Perhaps the point is cruelty. Send the Chinese students packing. All the Brown people are targets.

One of these days, when history is written about this time of authoritarian rise in America, it will be a story of opportunity lost, cowardice, and grievance deeply imbedded and fomented. The idea that was America was torn apart school by school, institution by institution, immigrant by immigrant. It will be a sad, sad, tale.

A democratic Hungary was lost in 53 days. It is taking a little longer to destroy America. Without quick course correction, and a bright light shining into what appears to be hate, corruption, and cruelty, America will have completely lost its point and its purpose.

 As our reputation is tarnished, China is becoming the hero. We need a hero somewhere. It’s a shame it may not be us this time. Maybe that’s the point after all.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com