Published: August 22, 2008 10:16 am            

Strength as a Nation Puts Strength Back into the People

On Aug. 5, 2008, just before 10 p.m., Texas did its part to bring balance to the nation. Jose Ernesto Medellin was strapped down, permitted a final statement, and then put to death in Huntsville. At last, equilibrium is near for the families of Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. Medellin was the second to be executed from the gang of six who savagely raped and killed the two teenage girls from Houston in June of 1993.

Medellin's sentence finally being carried out is a step in so many right directions. Most importantly, his death is another victory in the fight for justice in the names of Elizabeth Pena and Jennifer Ertman. No matter what the national significance of a case may be, we must never forget the loss felt by the victims' families, and that we are also fighting for their peace of mind.

Outside The Walls Unit on the night Medellin was put to death were dozens of people protesting his impending execution. The inability of those men and women to comprehend the reality of that evening was evident in their thoughtless behavior. If those who were there, boisterously protesting the execution while spouting ideas from the World Court, had taken even a moment to think about the families of the two girls who were murdered after being violated, disgraced and used as though they were somehow less than human, they would have put down their signs and their megaphones and gone home-heads hung in shame.

Randy Ertman, Jennifer Ertman's father, was present for Medellin's execution just as he was present for Derrick Sean O'Brien's in July of 1996. This man spent every minute of the last fifteen years in agony. After all of the anger, all of the questions and all of the tears, Randy Ertman's tragedy was trivialized when protesters had the audacity to cry when news that officials were given the green light to proceed with the execution spread. How dare they shed a tear for that man and have the nerve to call themselves Americans. Jose Medellin was not a victim of Texas justice. He was not mistreated. He was an illegal alien who not only confessed to, but callously bragged about the rape-slaying of two American teenage girls.

This case is exactly the kind that should spur the government into aggressively enforcing our border regulations, but the media would rather use Medellin to further the globalization of America by painting him as a victim. Jose Ernesto Medellin raped and murdered two of our children and our own government was in a state of total uproar because he didn't get to ask the Mexican Consulate how to get away with it before we locked him up. If our system of government is in such a state where the “rights” of a convicted rapist and murder, here in our country illegally, supersede those of our own, law-abiding citizens . . . we might as well just stop pretending to care about what is truly right. It's stale fiction and no one is buying it anymore.

Something I can barely stifle my satisfaction with is the effect Medellin's successful execution will have on America's reputation around the world. This should serve as hard evidence that when you come after the people of The United States of America, you will loose. If we could get our act together here at home and start putting our people first, I believe the country could use this as an opportunity to strengthen our national stance through our refusal to bow to the World Court, and our determination to win justice for our people. Once a nation is exposed divided, attacks will surge from all possible angles and soon war will be here, on the very streets where our children play.

There is little room to deny the probability that America may be faced with serious ramifications for carrying out Medellin's death sentence. But what too many global-minded activists never understand is that American interests at home trump American interests abroad. Yes, this is a hard reality to accept. Nevertheless, it is a reality that must be realized and utilized as a strategic guide in every decision our government makes. Americans need to act in the best interest of America, every time. There is no other way if we wish to ensure the survival of our sovereignty. Victory cannot simply be maintained; it must be won every day.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.