Collectively Claustrophobic

We’re a claustrophobic society. Maybe because we take Freedom and America’s vastness for granted we’re quick to feel uncomfortable when someone’s in our space. You know, that invisible personal zone – delineated by our magic sensors that detect body heat, food-breath, and clothing that carries an odiferous blend of Chinese restaurant and bowling ally – that warns of a close encounter. And I think we’re becoming more space-sensitive, evidenced by social warriors employing their three by five inch shields, held in a defensive posture; small-target body profile, head tipped forward at forty-five degrees, eyes side-glancing for imminent intruders.

I make an effort to be that violator when I detect spacial discomfort in someone I’m talking with, typically one of my wife’s friends or my daughter’s boyfriend. Not so close as to be freakishly uncomfortable, just six inches closer than normal. Their reactions are always noteworthy. The retreat step backward. A break in eye contact with side-glances for escape routes. Arms folded in front with their spine in a notable backward arch.

My son Joe got the gene and intentionally creeps up on me at work or home, leaning over my shoulder while I’m on the computer, intentionally breathing on my head or reaching around me to grab something off the counter. So I understand the instinctive urge to drop an orange safety cone to mark our space.

Maybe our collective claustrophobia is why so many Americans have a problem with the southern wall. I like the wall. I’m a wall guy. I would have a wall around my house. With a moat. And alligators. Ok, maybe not alligators. That would be impractical in Wisconsin. I don’t even know what they eat. (I’m thinkin’ squirrels and lost cats.) But I believe that fences make good neighbors, so the same should hold true for walls.

So why not build “the wall”. After all, I thought the primary roll of America’s government is to protect us from foreign and domestic threats. Our government has clearly failed at preventing a flood of illegal aliens from pouring over the southern border.

Open border advocates argue that immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity have the right to enter the United States. Yeah, they do… legally… with identification (that is to say “documentation”)…and life skills… and something to contribute to the success of America, not merely to take. My head’s going to explode if I hear another vote-seeking politician misrepresent The New Colossus sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty merely to further their liberal narrative.

It seems so obvious.  I can’t understand why there would be opposition to the most basic principle of common sense; self-preservation. Would proponents of open borders feel the same during periods of declared war? What if Nazi Germany had sent several hundred troop ships to sea ports in Mexico during WWII, leading to caravans of soldiers and equipment crossing the southern border of the US?

WELL THAT’S DIFFERENT! THAT’S AN INVASION!

Define “invasion.”

In truth we’ve been at war in the Middle East for the past twenty five years and are experiencing a politically and socially unsustainable invasion of foreign souls via our southern border, many of whom are not Mexican nationals but hail from points all over the globe, including adversarial hot spots. With undocumented entry comes the influx of gangs like MS13, illicit drugs, terrorism, and general lawlessness that comes from a life of evading authority. And of course there’s the unquantifiable cost of the mass of humanity entering illegally into the United States. I use the word “unquantifiable” because ya can’t do the math if you can’t get a head count.

The social and economic toll of our loose border policy is staggering. The cost in human suffering can be measured in victim-cost by immigrant-related crime. The psychological damage of being held hostage by and not having a say in the invasion policy is immeasurable. We’ve heard the broken-record reporting of repeat offenders and deportees having killed someone during the commission of a crime. It’s become so frequent that we hardly take note unless it’s a tabloidesque story about a beautiful young woman (Kathryn Steinle) shot and killed while walking on a pier with her dad. Why aren’t we outraged? I mean like grab-your-torch-and pitchfork outraged? And how is it that illegal foreign citizens are allowed sanctuary in the America that we’re paying for…yet we’re not allowed a voice.

Through “Golden Door” compassion, Lady Liberty has become the proverbial old woman with a houseful of cats. And we’ve learned it never ends well for the old lady, the house, or the cats! Noble intentions without a game plan come at an overwhelming and unsustainable cost. How are we gonna pay for it? More taxes? Who’s up for a five or ten percent immigrant tax to cover the “entitlement” cost of food, housing, healthcare, education, incarceration, and government services for those that have made illegal entry.

So why not build the wall? I agree, the oppressively dark mental image of the graffitied wall between East and West Berlin just feels un-American. We could skip the wall and mine the entire southern border, posting pictograms and warnings in several languages (including Arabic) about certain death from an attempted border crossing. But that would NEVER fly. The first coyote that became pink mist would lead to even more world condemnation of the “selfish” United States.

A military presence could be effective if used correctly. President Trump just deployed the National Guard to “assist” the Border Patrol but has pulled its teeth by removing arrest authority. So it appears our military has been placed as waterboy for the understaffed Border Patrol. Again, once the drug runners and coyotes learn that a stronger green presence is yet another American paper tiger, they’ll just smile and wave.

I propose we build a wall. Not an expensive concrete and steel structure that can be breached below or above by highly motivated sappers but a figurative wall built of American ingenuity and integrity. Cheap. Effective. Non-violent.

HOW? By removing bricks rather than mortaring them in place.

First, remove the golden bricks of entitlement. Second, pull our soldiers from the shithole that is the Middle East and deploy them with full military power to the Southern border for as long as is necessary to peacefully repel the invasion. Third, openly welcome and fast-track legal immigrants that bring life-skills and the expectation of Freedom rather than freebies as the American dream. Fourth, immediately remove and deport illegal alien criminals and gang members, permanently and by whatever means necessary, as they represent a proven clear and present danger to the United States. Fifth, immediately remove funding from all cities that declare themselves illegal alien sanctuaries. If they refuse to follow rule of law, they can pay for their unsustainable policies through local taxation. (We’ll see how long that lasts.)

Honestly, the wall will never be built. Think about it. If I was opposed to the wall I wouldn’t be talking about immigration… and fairness… and cost… and freedom. I’d be protesting about the endangered striped snaggletoothed dung beetle, whose habitat is on the VERY ground where the wall has been proposed! It’s America! There’s no way the United States Department of Agriculture would allow construction of a lemonade stand much less a wall if it interfered with the habitat of the endangered striped snaggletoothed dung beetle!

Certainly there’s some six legged critter down there that needs an intervention.