Border Control

     No great country is-or has been- unable to control its own borders.

Until now. Our government actually debates whether we should  even try  to control our own borders! After September 11^th yet! The first step to becoming an actual citizen of a country based on the rule of law can’t be to break the law of that country.

     Immigration itself isn’t necessarily bad. It’s how we got here. It can- and often has been- a good thing for America.

     But that was legal immigration to become-in every way- an American. Out of many…one. E Plurubus Unum.

     Now some politicians are questioning whether or not we have the capability to control our own border(s)!! Well, we’ve invented computers that can perform billions of calculations a second. We’ve sent what is essentially a hunk of metal, plastic, and glass-before computers really came of age- to the moon. Landed it, got out and walked around. Hit a golf ball into space. Planted a flag. Got back in and flew it home through our planet’s own dense atmosphere without burning up. Survived.

     Guessing we could probably build a damn wall along our border with Mexico. Historically walls have been very successful for these purposes. But, if we’ve truly been degraded and weakened so much by the ‘fundamental transformation’ of America that- after winning two world wars and the Cold War- we honestly don’t think we can build a fifteen foot high fence across our southern border, we have another obvious option.

     Have the Chinese build it for us. They built the ‘Great Wall of China’ starting in the 8^th century B.C.! To protect against incursions by various nomadic groups. They wanted to control immigration and emigration (we don’t have to worry about the latter…at least not yet). Most of the existing wall hails from the Ming Dynasty (14^th century). This part is 3,889 miles long. Averages 15-20 feet high and about 15 feet wide at the base. The entire wall with all its branches and natural barriers is 13,171 miles long!

     If we commissioned the Chinese to build it for us, it would be so symbolic of a waxing culture versus a waning one. Yet it would solve  many real problems. Our security would be dramatically enhanced. The Chinese could just oversee the job-site and hire thousands of local workers to build it, thus eliminating their need to come to the U.S. to find work. Our foreign relations might be enhanced. The U.N. may ‘like us' on facebook for  contracting with the Chinese and providing jobs for Chinese and Mexican workers. 

     If we think outside of the box we could even get the wall to pay for itself. There would be perpetual opportunities for tourism. And we could sell advertising on both sides of the wall. “This portion of the wall sponsored by…”. The ads could be in Chinese and English on our side of the wall and Chinese and Spanish on the Mexican side.

     “The Great Wall of China... Dos…brought to you by…”