Chris wrote: When will Fidel Castro stand up and say:  "Mr. Bush, tear down that Wall!" ?

 

Chris, as witty as you are, I hope we can discuss some serious ramifications of what is a significant force in nation-state internal dynamics as well as the uneven and often destructive impact of globalization. 

 

Obviously, Mexico’s Fox and US border-state Governors have reason to be concerned that fence-hopping illegals might be shot by armed troops or vigilantes.

 

Jails are already overcrowded with Latin Americans who haven’t yet been flown back. The costs and logistics for this are a nightmare for law enforcement and a bonanza for contractors and opportunists.  

 

All Americans should be leery of the symbolic implications of a built wall on our southern border, regardless of current levels of immigration and what they think should be done about it, whether for security reasons or otherwise. 

 

This wall is a fake solution, staging National Guard troops to man technology and engineering jobs while the Border Patrol do the actual security work is clever, but too much like dumping sandbags over broken levees after Katrina, an emergency response to a poorly designed problem long ignored. The solution is obviously not in barbed wire fencing.

 

I am reminded of a prediction that a lobbyist made to me during a job interview over a decade ago. He correctly suggested that the spotted owl environmental protections, much-hated by the logging industry, would be dwarfed by the incoming salmon protections. Politically, the immigration issue could be Bush’s Waterloo, judging by the anger it has generated among some who have been holding their extreme views in check until now.

 

karen

 

 

 

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