Wall Schmall
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The 700-mile wall (just approved by the US Senate) along the Mexican border is an absurd idea.
This is pre-election political grandstanding at its worst. The cost is the tip of the iceberg of problems with the wall--I have seen estimates of $2 billion to $9 billion, suggesting that people haven't the slightest idea what it will actually cost.
Of course we have an immigration and porous border problem in this country that needs to be solved. But the wall is incredibly insulting to a country that should be our friend and ally. A Mexican government financial official said recently that maybe the wall isn't so bad because it will finally spur more action in Mexico to create more and better jobs there. That would be nice, but has little chance of working (the Mexican government has been trying to create more and better jobs for decades, and I don't think that humiliating them is going to make them suddenly be more successful.) The finance fellow is in the distinct minority, and most of Mexico feeling very insulted right now.
If there was somehow a great answer to the immigration problem that insulted Mexico, then I would probably be for it despite the insult...but the biggest problem with the wall is that it simply won't work.
When people see their own children hungry, they will find a way to get here. When people see family members die because they couldn't even get emergency treatment for catastrophic illness, they will find a way to get here. When people know that they can make about $100 per day here just by working hard, and can't even make that much in a week in a country adjacent to ours, they will find a way to get here.
Over, around, through, or under the wall, they will find a way to get here.
Our Senators are displaying remarkable arrogance by
claiming that their wall will effectively serve its purpose for any meaningful length of time. Just ask Hadrian. Ask the people who built the Great Wall. Ask the people who built the Berlin Wall. Ask the Nazis, who built the Atlantic Wall.
Were our Senators asleep in high school history, or hopelessly incompetent? Actually, the answer is probably neither...our Senators are very shrewd at getting re-elected, and they know just how to exploit people's fears to do so. Hence, a feel-good sound-bite solution that has no chance of working in the long run. (And not much in the short-run either.)
This is pre-election political grandstanding at its worst. The cost is the tip of the iceberg of problems with the wall--I have seen estimates of $2 billion to $9 billion, suggesting that people haven't the slightest idea what it will actually cost.
Of course we have an immigration and porous border problem in this country that needs to be solved. But the wall is incredibly insulting to a country that should be our friend and ally. A Mexican government financial official said recently that maybe the wall isn't so bad because it will finally spur more action in Mexico to create more and better jobs there. That would be nice, but has little chance of working (the Mexican government has been trying to create more and better jobs for decades, and I don't think that humiliating them is going to make them suddenly be more successful.) The finance fellow is in the distinct minority, and most of Mexico feeling very insulted right now.
If there was somehow a great answer to the immigration problem that insulted Mexico, then I would probably be for it despite the insult...but the biggest problem with the wall is that it simply won't work.
When people see their own children hungry, they will find a way to get here. When people see family members die because they couldn't even get emergency treatment for catastrophic illness, they will find a way to get here. When people know that they can make about $100 per day here just by working hard, and can't even make that much in a week in a country adjacent to ours, they will find a way to get here.
Over, around, through, or under the wall, they will find a way to get here.
Our Senators are displaying remarkable arrogance by
claiming that their wall will effectively serve its purpose for any meaningful length of time. Just ask Hadrian. Ask the people who built the Great Wall. Ask the people who built the Berlin Wall. Ask the Nazis, who built the Atlantic Wall.
Were our Senators asleep in high school history, or hopelessly incompetent? Actually, the answer is probably neither...our Senators are very shrewd at getting re-elected, and they know just how to exploit people's fears to do so. Hence, a feel-good sound-bite solution that has no chance of working in the long run. (And not much in the short-run either.)
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