The history of Liberalism and Marxists is full of instances where the words and symbols they use to promote their causes are pirated and redefined. History is full of instances and none more glaring than that of the Statue of Liberty. It was never about immigration, it was about American Exceptionalism as exemplified by the Civil War.
It is easily researched that Bartholdi (sculptor) and Laboulaye (visionary financier) intended the Statue to be representative of America’s courage to fight a Civil War over the rule of law regarding slavery and the state’s right implications therein. It was about the abolition of slavery and the establishment of liberty. The evil of Jim Crow laws had not been completely realized when Laboulaye had the original vision or it might not have happened. Nowhere in its dedication were the words immigrant or “give us your tired” used at all.
Then, a few years later, “The New Colossus”poem was hung on the wall of the Visitor’s Center in 1903 during a dedication in memory of those raising funds for the statue’s pedestal. Notice that I did not say it was there to add or subtract to the meaning of the Statue of Liberty. Immigration idealists have ever since have been gradually obscuring the original message of the Statue of Liberty. They want to say it is about modern day immigration and always had been. A myth converted or pirated to their truth.
The idea that thousands of immigrants may have been inspired, brought to tears or given hope at the sight of Lady Liberty is not an argument that I make. The important point is that its original intent was to honor that honest brand of American exceptionalism that lead to the Civil War because of American courage. It also stands for the Rule of Law we are still trying to appropriately enforce over the idea of basic human individuality. Something, I might add, neither our government nor any other person can take from you in this country.
