Friday, August 15, 2008

POSTED: No Trespassing

If you were to drive down my street and the streets in my neighborhood you would find that all the homes have something in common.



They all have a fence.

In my neighborhood there are white people, African Americans, Mexicans, Chileans, Samoans, Tongans, and other ethnic and racial groups. Some people are LDS, some are Catholic, some are Jehovah's Witnesses, some are Protestants, some are atheists. Some are married, some are widowed, some are divorced, and some are single.

They all have a fence.

I lock my doors during the day and at night. My fence has combination locks on it. Some people in the neighborhood even have a fence in their front yard. Is it because we are unfriendly that we have a fence and lock our doors? Is it because we are racist that we have a fence and lock our doors? Is it because we are paranoid nut jobs that we have a fence and lock our doors? Is it because we think everyone that might come in our yard or home is a hardened criminal that we have a fence and lock our doors?

No

It is because it only takes ONE thief, or ONE sexual predator, or ONE murderer to cause serious problems for a household. So we have a fence and lock our doors for protection and security and no one questions me or my neighbors for doing it. We allow people into our home on our terms. It is my family's domain. Some people in the neighborhood, myself included, have weapons in our homes that can be used for protection as well.

Why is it racist then to build a fence to protect our soil, the soil of the United States of America? Why is it uncompassionate to protect our families by blocking others from coming in uninvited? Why can't it just be to protect our freedom, our liberty, and our families?

Do I think that all or even a majority of those coming in from the southern border are violent criminals? No a very small percentage are. It only takes a few to cause serious damage to a community. Keep them coming in and those few will add up to become a serious problem for a nation.

Let us make a list of what gets blocked out by a fence and then we will determine if it is racist and uncompassionate to build it:

1. Drug traffickers
2. Coyotes - ie human traffickers
3. Gang members - ie La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)
4. Al Qaeda and other terrorists
5. Poor people that want a better life

Clearly the 5th in the list makes up the majority of the people coming into the country. So what. So what.

Does that sound harsh? Well if you could see into my mind - kinda scary thought - you would see compassion in those words.

1. Those poor people are being taken advantage of by coyotes. They are often stolen from one coyote to another. They are in great danger and are often conned out of more money and other favors to get here.
2. The border fence will prevent more deaths in the desert of innocent people
3. Some of those poor people that want a better life end up as sexual slaves, especially in border towns and they start them as early as age 8. If a border fence could stop one little girl or teen from becoming a sex slave her whole life then it is worth it.
4. What about compassion for those already here inside the US? I am against the welfare state and socialized medicine because I think we can be relied upon ourselves to help each other. But we need to help those already here not poor more into our communities.
5. What about those who are already here and struggling to make ends meet? What about there jobs and homes and families?
6. Though they may not be hardened criminals they are still breaking the laws. If I shoplift I am not a violent criminal but I will be made to pay for what I did and I will most likely not be allowed in that store again.

There are many other reasons for the fences. The coyotes that bring them in are violent criminals - we need to take away the business that keeps them coming into our backyard everyday.

I agree that there are things that need fixed in the legal ways to entering the country, that is still no excuse for entering here illegally. There is no 100% way to stop illegal immigration but we can make it less enticing and more difficult to enter. We may in the process save a few lives and stop some drugs from entering. We may also save some from slavery and possibly thwart another terrorist attack. What we need to do is:

1. Build the fence
2. Enforce employer-sanction laws
3. Require citizenship for financial assistance by at least one parent in a family.

This doesn't address schooling or healthcare. This doesn't address rounding up people already here. Attrition is the key. If there are no jobs and no welfare then many will move back to where they are legal and fewer will enter. This is the easiest way and less intrusive way to alleviate the problems we have.

THE END.

5 comments:

Becky said...

Good thoughts, good points made...

On the other hand, I now feel compelled to ask everyone I know from the Midwest (and it's quite a few) how they EVER survived without fences around their property? In fact, many of them have told me that on first arriving in Arizona they have been appalled at the number of big, block fences...is it any wonder that we are so unneighborly compared to others?

Not to say that a border fence wouldn't fix some (or even all of the problems)...just say that it may not be the best solution...and don't hold me to that opinion 'cause I haven't done all my research on it (just going with my gut on this one 'cause I'm not a huge fan of fences...).

Oh, and I can't resist commenting on Jeremy's comments: you can tell your wife Leslie that you are wrong. Most people I know who blog are infusing some(or a lot of) emotion into those words they are typing--whether or not they are flaming (writing in capitals). And emotion isn't a bad thing...I just don't have the type of personality that feels comfortable ranting for long against the government (which is still one of the greatest in the world). Hope that clears up some of your confusion on the issue...

Jed said...

Dan,
I really liked this post. There was no 'anger', just passion and conviction about what is right. What is right for the country, right for its citizens. I fail to understand how protecting our borders becomes a racist issue. And that is because it does not! What it is is a tool of the liberal that they use to further their socialist agenda.

And Becky,
The reason those in the mid-west dont always have fences is because the communities are safer and usually not too on the radar to strangers. And most all of those 'open border' midwest homes have a gun. I know that I am as neighborly as I can be to those around me who would be neighborly but that does not mean I do not want a physical barrier preventing unwanted tresspassing. And with everyone ready to sue you-like when their kid breaks his arm climbing your tree and falling out-do you blame me?
It would truly be nice if everyone was trustworthy, moral and God-fearing but the truth of it is they are not.

Sometimes a fence just keeps people honest. And just like flowing water will run down the dyke till it finds a weak spot, I dont want MY house to be THAT weak spot.

Jed said...

Also, those in the mid-west are on usually much larger properties where they are not right next to the neighbors. At least in my community we are packed right in tight.

Jeremy said...

So, I was doing some reading about the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall... which by the way reading for me is almost miraculous considering that until the advent of the internet I despised spending my time reading books and still struggle to want to sit with the old fashioned relics turning from page to page... Anyway I wanted to point out some key differences of what that wall's purpose was and what a border fence for us would be about in theory. In part it is my way of regurgitating what I know or understand in order to get feedback as to if I am mistaken in my understanding.

First, The Berlin wall was built as part of the Iron Curtain which by design "served to keep people IN and information out" and ended up dividing a city which had, up until it's construction, been unimpeded with regard to commuting.

An example of a wall that the USA would have to build that would parallel the political and security agendas equivalent to the Soviet Union's Iron Curtain, would be for the USA to decide that oh... we are going to divide Baghdad, Iraq, with a wall and force everyone on the USA controlled side of the city to remain under our power. Then we would have to impose our own laws upon the people on our side and force them to live under the rule of leaders that we place in power and give them no rights to vote or ability to choose to leave for example, without risking their life to defect, essentially making them our prisoners or slaves.

Now what if the Soviet Union had built a wall along their own geographically recognized border to prevent the incursion of refugees, for example? Those refugees might have no legal right to be inside their borders and benefiting from their social and political structure yet by flocking there in such large volumes that the country could not bear the cost to provide the refugees with the asylum on that grand scale, then that is the kind of wall the USA needs to build between the US and Mexico. Oh, and not to mention the dregs of humanity that sneek in with them and break the everyday simple laws and all around negatively impact the sovereignty of the country...

I have sought asylum recently in the home of my father-in-law. I am greatful for his kindness and generosity, along with his willingness to take us in. We did not expect him to take us in. If he were unable or unwilling to help us then we would never invade his home. If we were delusional and expected him to open his doors to us and we decided to just move in then it might not be without suffering the consequences. He would probably have to change his locks and call the police on us to have us removed from the premises for trespassing.

I admit that I am often wrong. It allows for me to explore my inability to be right 100% of the time. When I get up on my soapbox, I may be serious or I may be sarcasticly joking. Most of the time I fail to clearly indicate at the end that I am just kidding, or that I am ademently obsessed with forcing my opinion down the throats of others, or that my words are meant to cross into both territories. So when I say that text is emotionless, what I mean is that we read it and clearly interpret it with the emotion that we sense from the grouping of words that the author has chosen. Does that mean their words constitute a rant against anyone or anything? I don't know. Maybe. Is it poor netiquette to make statements that are clearly unclear yet allow for easy mis-interpretation of the connotations? Probably. Do people often write and say things in real life that are mistakenly interpreted? Yes. Could we be more careful with our choice of words? Always.

The world we live in is sooooo complex. It is near impossible to know the truth behind most political actions or agendas. Are a lot of us on board with the idea of a border fence based on specific purposes which may be the facade of some other lunatic with money and power who wants to actually imprison us and force us to bend to their will and ideals? I sure hope not but I can't help but acknowledge that the potential for mis-use or abuse of a wall once in place is real. With most things in this world, if there are problems, real or imagined, and corrective actions aren't taken then our demise may be imminent.

P.S. - I spent nearly 3 hours composing this comment. Maybe I will have to use it as my talk in church on Sunday...

Leslie said...

Jeremy is not joking on that last comment about it taking 3 hours...