November 19, 2015 1:29 PM

Smith: Will the Lamp Beside the Golden Door Go Dark?

From the Left: QR’s liberal columnist Glenn W. Smith argues that a "pause" in Syrian refugee efforts is really a dangerous, un-Christian and unpatriotic pause in democracy."

The poetic lines point to American’s most fundamental shared value: respect for the life and liberty of all. They are from the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, and they are engraved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

“Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

In the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, a full-blown xenophobic hysteria has come to America. What is now believed to have been a fake Syrian passport was found near the body of one of the terrorists. Therefore, all Syrians, even women and children fleeing for their lives from the terror and violence of their homeland, are now suspect.

The complete column by Glenn W. Smith is in the R&D Department.

By Glenn W. Smith