Relax, Mr. President, don't lose sight of American values

Relax. Mr. President. Your travel ban from Muslim countries may be popular, but it might just be a bad idea.

After losing in court, you tweeted that American can't control its borders. You are not America. We are a sovereign people, free and brave. We have due process of law, and our democratic checks of balances are doing what they should.

National security policy needs to be effective and efficient. There are always risks and trade-offs to consider. There are many good reasons to think that your travel ban doesn’t change our risk profile, alienates our Muslim allies, and makes us look like we don't care for our patriotic Muslim neighbors, or refugees.

There is no evidence that travelers from Muslim countries or refugees are some special source of violence in our streets.

Just last week our lawmakers back in Washington decided that mentally ill people should be able to buy guns. Now that's something to worry about. Just last week I encountered a man, obviously suffering from untreated mental illness, threatened a fellow citizen in a Safeway store. I am more afraid of driving up the interstate in traffic than I am of refugees.

Those people need help and I want to help them. We face plenty of real risks based on cold hard statistics. A great nation doesn’t need to be scared of its shadow. We will prevail Mr. President. And we will do it in an American way.

This story was originally published February 21, 2017 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Relax, Mr. President, don't lose sight of American values."