After all the lies told by Bush and his cohorts since he took office, I guess I should be getting used to them by now -- but I'm not. Each time I get upset and wonder how America can keep putting up with a president that continually lies to us.
Last week, Bush gave an interview to McClatchy Newspapers. He discussed the proposed border fence to be built in Texas. Bush said he realized that a lot of Texas ranchers thought the fence was a bad idea, and said, "I presume we're not going to build a fence on places where people don't want it."
It took less than a week for Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff to show us Bush was lying again. On friday Chertoff said, "This is a national issue that requires a national decision. This is not a local issue." Chertoff said he would listen to local communities, but the communities would not have a veto on where the fence was going to be built.
In the final analysis, the fence is going to be built whever the Border Patrol wants it to be built. The economic impact on border farmers, ranchers and communities does not matter. The environmental impact on wildlife in the area does not matter. The relationships between Texas and Mexican cities do not matter.
The only thing that does matter is for the Republicans to look good to their bigoted supporters by building a fence. Then without accomplishing a thing, they can claim they've done something about homeland security and immigration.
Why would Bush lie about this? Bush is not very bright, and he gets flustered when he's asked the hard questions. I think he just gives the easiest answer, whether it's even close to the truth does not matter.
He's been getting away with lying to the American people for several years. Why would he change now?
Spending billions on a hatemongering fence between the US and Mexico will do nothing to keep out those who want to come. To provide a pair of examples, there are countless illegal immigrants in the US who come from countries that don't even have land borders with our country, yet they still managed to arrive somehow. Between Europe and the lands of most of its immigrants there are entire oceans, seas and deserts, yet the immigrants still find a way to get there and stay. These examples alone demonstrate how useless a costly fence would be, not to mention any collateral damage nobody has thought of or predicted yet (environmental harm, even further destruction of our country's image abroad, etc.)
ReplyDeleteLike the EU has done for its poorer neighbors with land borders, the US should help Mexico improve its economy and political situation (those billions wasted on the fence could be used for example) and make Mexico a nicer place to stay, live and work for its own people (and more pleasant and safe for us to go visit and retire to). It's really not that hard a task since Mexico is only somewhat 'poor' to begin with (it is one of the wealthiest 'poor' nations in the world, with an extremely sophisticated economy and billions in revenue from tourism, oil, agriculture, industry and services). If we gave a few billion per year to Mexico but required some results (better infrastructure, less corruption, some economic and legal reform, a better business environment, etc. etc.), Mexico would slowly start to shine, and we would have a much friendlier neighbor that would be both grateful and indebted to us, since we would be giving them assistance through a positive message instead of forcing them to take from us in the form of illegal work. Once their economy is going well, it will become the magnet for Latin American immigration instead of the US (due to its proximity and the language). Only a long-term solution like this will really create any meaningful change. And it is certainly much more Christian than exclusion through fence-building!
The fence-lovers' viewpoint is very simplistic and based on the old-fashioned thinking that only one of us can win. We can both win on this one, and I think claiming otherwise is just a cheap way for conservative Republican politicians to attract the votes of undereducated or uncreative members of their electorate who really couldn't care less about Mexicans, even though they are our neighbors and have always been hugely important to us historically and economically.