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May 31, 2006 I never cease to be stunned at the sudden patriotic passions stirred up on both sides of the aisle when politicians, so long ensconced in the apathetic security of Washington, realize it is time to suit up in the overalls and baseball caps to campaign for re-election. Never is a politician so stirred to public service as those few months when his or her paycheck is on the line. It is this rush to seem in touch with voters that has brought us the Great Wall of Mexico. The Great Wall of Mexico is an idea advanced by Minutemen in the Southwest and increasingly bolstered by Americans postmarking bricks to their congresspersons. Politicians have so successfully whipped the voters into frenzy on the subject of illegal immigration that the voters are willing to turn to ancient China for the answer to their problems. That both immigrants and illegal drugs are smuggled into the United States by air as well as land does not penetrate the bunker of idealism they are huddled in. Exactly what day this year politicians decided to concern themselves with immigration I do not know, but what I can see is that no one has lifted a finger on the subject over the past six years. It isn’t as if Republicans can blame it on Democrats this time – if the Republican Party can not make government run with its majorities in every area of government perhaps that is a sign that their efficiency is finally wearing down. Regardless of realities, the Great Wall of Mexico marches on. The Great Wall of Mexico is a fantastic idea: American taxpayers are already funneling billions of dollars a year into tax cuts, two foreign wars and oil company subsidies; it makes sense that we would divide the taxpayer dollar ever further. As education is slashed nationwide, a new crop of unskilled menial laborers is being created in high schools, prime employees for the bricklaying and cement pouring a wall would entail. Of course, if that drives costs up too much, we could always use cost-effective illegal labor. Oh, don’t forget upkeep! Building a massive wall across the border does not in any way address the actual problem at hand: 11 to 13 million illegal immigrants are already inside the borders of the United States. Many of them are working for sub-standard wages and in conditions nearing slavery both in the California garment district and agricultural fields in the southeast. A wall will mean little to workers already trapped in the four walls of an American sweatshop. While the Great Wall of Mexico might bolster politicians’ poll ratings and bring out that ever-cracking conservative base, it will achieve little in terms of real results and simply put a further economic drain on an already burdened economy. At least in this case, what might appease American desire for justice could end up creating unforeseen negative effects that would all but negate the symbolic victory of building a wall. We all seem to forget that Britain wanted to establish a barrier to prevent illegal American immigration west into the Ohio Valley. Is that really a comparison we want to embrace? ------------ About the author: Max Burns is a 19-year-old moderate Democrat from Indianapolis. He has been moved from the Hoosier Heartland to the moral void that is Washington D.C. to study Government & International Politics at George Mason University. He is also the author of the fantasy novel Alcardia. Email: mburns6@gmu.edu Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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