Let's Just Tear Down the Statue of Liberty!

Did the title get your attention?  Good.  I don't actually want to tear down Lady Liberty, but it seems as though our great nation may be coming to this.  With all the controversy about President Trump's recent executive order banning travellers from certain countries, it seems as though we have forgotten what the Statue of Liberty stands for.  Time for a history lesson.
A man by the name of Edouard de Laboulaye, after witnessing the end of the American Civil War, wanted to bring his home nation of France closer to their ally the United States.  He proposed the construction of a monument to celebrate justice and liberty for all.  The Frenchman believed that the United States was a place where people were free to live whatever life they wanted.
Ten years later, de Laboulaye worked together with his sculptor friend Frederic Auguste Bartholdi to make his dream a reality.  Bartholdi was put in charge of sculpting and construction.  The United States was in charge of erecting a pedestal.  Everything was coming together nicely.  Until both the US and France realized they didn't have the funds to complete the statue.  After various forms of donations and fundraising, the Statue of Liberty was built and shipped to the United States.  Since then, Lady Liberty has greeted and welcomed foreigners into the Land of the Free.
Nearly 150 years later, the Statue of Liberty still stands.  But have Americans forgotten what she stands for?  People are being persecuted and turned away because their religion.  There is talk of a wall being built to keep out our southern neighbors.  Oh the irony!  One hundred and fifty years ago, our ancestors campaigned to raise money to build a monument to their freedom, to help them remember that we were all immigrants at one time.  Now, in the present, people are campaigning for a wall.  Taxes will most likely be raised in order to pay for the wall.  One hundred and fifty years isn't a long time.  But look what has become of us.  We went from a generation who was willing to allow others into their country to a generation concerned more about themselves than others.  So there you have it.  Let's tear down the Statue of Liberty.  It only seems fitting.

Works Cited
"Edouard de Laboulaye." National Park Service. National Park Service US Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 2 Feb. 2017.

"Statue History." Liberty Ellis Foundation. N.p., 2017. Web. 31 Jan. 2017.