No one likes being walled in or out
by
David Grand
February 1, 2006
That was as true during ancient times as it is today. For as far back as 1400 BC, when according to the Bible, Joshua and the Israelites marched around the walls of Jerico 13 times before they came tumbling down to the blast of his trumpet, in a display of God's power. And while archaeologists aren't in agreement with that Biblical account, they can't disprove it, either.
No one, however, questions that the Wall of China (built in the 3rd century BC and rebuilt during the Ming dynasty in the 15th and 16th centuries to ward off the Mongols) is the largest construction project ever, more than 4,000 miles long, with walls 25' high and 30' wide. But contrary to legend, it can't be seen from the Moon.
In modern times, the Berlin Wall, separating East and West Germany, stood from 1961 to 1989; and was dismantled, not in response to Reagan urging Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down that wall," but rather because of the uprisings in East Germany and the USSR withdrawing its military support from that Communist regime (heralding the end of the Cold War).
While Israel was already erecting a wall in the occupied Palestinian territories, it'll be speeded up now that Hamas is in power, leading Israel and the US to say they won't deal with a Hamas-led Palestinian government (allied with Iran), until and unless it renounces violence and its vow to destroy Israel. (Roses will grow in the arctic circle and icebergs float in the Gulf of Mexico before then.)
Back here, Mexicans are reacting with rage to a US proposal to build a wall along the border to keep out migrants. But they'll find ways to reach what they regard as their "promised land," where jobs await them; and which pay more than they could make at home, and enables them to send money to their impoverished families--$13 billion last year (Mexico's third largest source of revenue).
However, I have a practical, less costly solution for solving the problem once and for all (that came to me while taking a siesta). Put simply: start a war with Mexico on some phony pretext, like we did in the Mexican War in 1846, after which we stole (I mean acquired) half of its national territory that became the states of California, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. Talk about Pancho Villa being a bandido.
To soothe our national conscience for that unprovoked war, we could insert these concessions in the treaty: (1) make it our 51st state; (2) give it one nonvoting representative in Congress, like Washington, DC has; (3) allow them to use their nation's flag as a state flag; and (4) grant US citizenship to its 105 million residents, and to the 13 million illegal aliens already here (over half of which are Mexicans), provided those of military age sign-up for active duty.
The benefits we'd reap would be limitless; such as: there'd be an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor, working for the minimum wage; our tax base would vastly increase, as would the money pouring into the Medicare and Social Security pots; it would lessen our dependency on oil from the OPEC nations, for Mexico's petroleum reserve is an estimated 12,622,000,000 barrels (close to that of Saudi Arabia's); and with that added military strength, we could launch a preemptive, air-ground attack on Iran, unless Israel beat us to the punch. Then North Korea, if it keeps misbehaving.
Oh, I almost forgot, we'd need a battle cry to rally public support for invading Mexico. Can't use "Remember the Alamo" again, though Texans would love shouting it.
Here's one I like: Down with NAFTA (the North American Trade Agreement). That'd resonate with lots of Americans, especially among the 1.5 million whose jobs went south of the border, swelling the unemployment rolls and putting the kibosh to their retirement plans and for their children's education. For shame.
