Shame on both political parties and the press for playing political games at the expense of humans, adding to the suffering of both immigrants and the homeless. As the threatened Trump crackdowns on illegal immigrants have begun, what has either party done for easing the suffering of humans wanting a better life, than to try and make political hay, so to speak?

Those that want a controlled border and orderly process for accepting new people into the country are not Nazis or fascists, and those that show concern for the millions already here are not open border nuts. But, in the current political environment, it seems those are the only two options. Like or hate Trump, he is the current president, and the continued refusal to do anything regarding the border issues, because of him, is a complete dereliction of duty by all politicians currently “serving” their country.

There should be a path to citizenship for the so-called “dreamers,” and we should have a secure border by the most efficient means necessary. We should know who is in our country, but that knowledge should be done in such a way as to not provoke unnecessary fear from those whose only crime is wanting a better life.

This isn’t rocket science for goodness sake. The fact that nothing has been done regarding this issue for decades is a testament to the ineptness of our government. Instead of the press calling out the collective failure, they play “us against them” games with their reporting, adding to the conflict and inaction.

Equally disturbing is the growing homelessness crisis. Recent counts place the number of homeless at more than 36,000 in Los Angeles alone, but the problem is a national one. Where are the politicians on this one? As usual, they are speaking in political gibberish, throwing out standard unhelpful talking points, including how inhuman Republicans are, and of course, there is the always helpful “the problems are in cities run by Democrats” line that conservatives love.

In both cases, these are real people in dire need of help, and our institutions are failing them. It’s as if they don’t care about them unless there is some kind of political angle that can be worked to gain or retain power.

I recently read Kurt Vonnegut’s apocalyptic novel, Slapstick. The main character is the former President of the United States reflecting on his life. He mentions his run for the presidency on a platform that would randomly generate new middle names for everyone. The names would be used to assign them to new larger and diverse families that would better care about, and for each other. His campaign slogan was “Lonesome No More.”

I know in our family, when someone is in trouble, we take action to help. Wouldn’t it be nice if we, politicians especially, started acting like we were all family members? Maybe then, they would take action that helped these people in need and those struggling for a better life.