Shutdown Futility

The shutdown is over, or at least in an armistice as a continuing resolution provides a three week window to negotiate on border security.

Its hard to imagine the shutdown being revisited after this one was an expensive exercise in futility, that did not succeed in financing a wall that the public generally doesn't think is needed.

Certainly in some areas on the border either physical or technological barrier might serve a purpose, but we also need to understand that barriers can almost always be defeated.

There are two issues on the border.

One involves immigrants, people who want to find a better or safer life for themselves and their families.  They cross illegally because we allow so few of them to come legally.

A good number of Americans object to them because they violated the law but also because they represent changes in our population that some resent and reject.

We see Spanish becoming more and more common in many aspects of our life as the Hispanic population has grown.  This is not a new trend but conservative media has taken it on as a crusade arguing that traditional "white" America is threatened..

This is essentially the same argument that was made by previous generations as waves of German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and others came to this country.  Of course we had African Americans brought here against their will who help form our traditional America.   Already we see the sons and grandsons of Hispanic immigrants occupying positions of importance and their ethnic background is not a factor.

The other issue is the importation of contraband, mainly drugs.  Drugs are so profitable that all our attempts to stop them have failed in the end.  People who want them have consistently been able to get them.  Stopping usage would be the only effective control, eliminate demand and supply will stop.  We have been unable to do that, either by treatment or incarceration and it has been costly failures.

A wall will not stop this profitable business, it probably won't have any impact on it.

It just won't work.