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When Will We Ever Learn?
Photo: Candace Suerstedt
When I heard this week that the Bush administration will use its authority to bypass more than 30 laws and regulations in order to complete the “Border Fence” by the end of 2008, I could hardly believe the idiotic arrogance, and complete disregard for due process.
Construction on the Great Wall between the United States and Mexico will go into overdrive so we (the taxpaying public) can watch $8 to $10 billion of our dollars get spent building a fence along select areas of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. This has to be one of the worst ideas the federal government has ever perpetrated.
Well, ok, at least one of the 100 worst… let's see, what other tragic moments in American history did our government tell us was “for our own good”, and, we, as a nation, were complicit in their actions.
For one, there was slavery, where the importation of humans to be owned as property was deemed lawful.
Then we drove all the Native Americans from their lands and finally corralled them into “reservations”.
Yeah! Then there was the Mexican War in 1846 where Mexicans were removed from their rightful property and often brutally slaughtered. And of course no one likes to talk about interring U.S. citizens of Japanese descent in relocation camps during WWII.
But we did stupid things against white people too. Like testing the atomic bomb on U.S. servicemen. But just to even things out we tested the hydrogen bomb on the indigenous inhabitants of the Marshall Islands, as well. (We had to make sure it would work on our “real” enemies.)
Can’t forget when we turned away ships filled with Jewish refugees and sent them back to into the hands of the Third Reich. And then in the 50’s and 60’s we DDT’ed all our own kids in the name of mosquito control.
All right, all right, I’ll stop - won’t even mention Vietnam, Iraq, The War on Terror, or shipping all of our jobs abroad.
“Why even bring these things up?” you ask.
Because one day people will look back on the events of this week and say "Can you believe they actually did that back then. What primitive people they must have been.”
-Citizen Voices blogger Candace Suerstedt is a filmmaker and a mother of three who lives in Coronado.
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Since all this is going to do is shift the immigrants’ path, I’m wondering how long it will be before they start planning the Great Coastal Wall to prevent small boats from landing on beaches (a la Cubans and Haitians in South Florida).
If all those who just attend sporting events, i.e. baseball, football, basketball, auto races, etc., joined forces, protested, walked on Washington for Universal Health Care, End to the War in Iraq, Lowering Gas Prices, Better and Less Expensive Education, etc., it would all happen.
Perhaps our leaders from across several communities should try to address the issues that are causing so many immigrants to come here with other community and government leaders throughout Latin America. Maybe their combined efforts could create better working and living conditions in their own countries so that they wouldn’t have to leave families and put themselves under undo stress to make the trek to the United States to what they think is a better life.
I wonder how that border fence will keep all the undocumented European or Brazilian aliens out-- or any other visitor that comes and overstays his/her visa? and Chuck, we’ve had boats land right here in Del Mar!
The dumbest thing was in not invading Venezuela. That’s where the oil is.
Hey, maybe we still can.
This is one of the dumbest policy ideas I have ever heard, and that’s saying something. It’s sort of like the way that my cat thinks no one can see him/get him when he’s hiding in an empty grocery bag.
Problems? What problems?! - I got this here fence!
For lack of a comprehensive immigration policy that serves both the needs of the lacking labor force in the US and the labor availability in Latin America--moms, dads, sons and daughters are living in fear every day because of our bolstered up border policies. I am so embarassed for our short sighted (backwards and forwards) lawmakers, especially the big one. Europe has removed their borders and we are building a big fat new one. How many teachers’ salaries could be paid for with this pile of money down the drain.
maybe if they spent more they could make it taller.. maybe taller would work.. idiocy is really funny.. except that it isn’t.
The idea that this fence is for nat’l security is naïve. Go to the north and look at the border. A park, Peace Arch, sits next to a busy border crossing that has no border barrier. People can come and go with little effort.
We should be for a southern border fence if evidence shows it works. But look at the facts. Look at the millions of illegal immigrants and note that most came legally. Look at the enormous amount of drugs flowing north and guns flowing south to Mexico via commercial trucks. Look at the reasoning that says illegals won’t go back home if returning here is to costly or hazardous. This is not about keeping out terrorists. This is not about stopping illegal immigration. Were it so we would be punishing employers. This is about looking tough.