Mr. Bush build up this wall

When Ronald Reagan famously called on Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" it was under a context where freedom loving people wanted to exit from a totalitarian government. In this post I call on President Bush to build a wall on the US-Mexican border to protect the freedom loving people from entering in. During Bush's presidency there have been two major issues I have truly felt betrayed in: the growth in the size of government and the failure to shore up our borders to pander to the Hispanic voting block. This post addresses the latter.

I will first state that I have no issue with Hispanics coming into the US through the legal process. If you took the number of Hispanics coming over legally and illegally each year, I would have no problem allowing that total number coming across legally if all those coming illegally could be prevented. During the legal immigration process we could background check those coming over and prevent a host of issues that crossing illegally presents.

Bush has been continually courting the Hispanic vote which of itself is not a bad thing. The Hispanic people with their strong Roman Catholic backgrounds, strong family bonds and coming to the US to seek out a better life are truly in line with the conservative philosophy. Democrats have worked hard ensnaring many into dependency on government, shamelessly played the race card at every turn and have captured a large voting block with these tactics. It does take a significant amount of direct attention to attract these voters from their deceived position. However, risking the safety of the American people by failing to enforce the border in order to keep from offending a voting block is irresponsible. Of course, nearly the entire Democrat party and GOP moderates are guilty of this same thing.

Recent events have laid a gift at the feet of George Bush. Recently a series of tunnels were discovered that had been dug under the Mexican-US border. If this were not bad enough a new report today reveals that a huge weapons cache was found in Laredo, Tx. related to drug trafficing from Mexico. There are also reports of the Mexican military frequently crossing the border into the US, shockingly downplayed by DHS. I have always felt that once a terrorist strike occurs that can be shown to be connected to an illegal crossing of that weak border, immediate justification to crack down on the border would appear. That is too late. These new revelations are enough to make the case NOW.

With the border so big, the only real way to seal it is to build a wall or portions of a wall with the remaing patrolled. We can do it now, or we can do it later when we have been attacked. The wall would serve to protect against terrorist entry. It would protect against what we are starting to see: drug wars spilling over into our country. It would give us control to process Hispanic immigration in a way that would help the US and help those coming here to assimilate into our system and have a better chance to realize the American dream instead of bringing their poverty with them. In a goodwill gesture to Mexico, we could even hire a significant Mexican labor force to assist in building the wall. The money flowing into the Mexican border towns could fuel their local economy.

If Bush sees this opportunity and steps forward, the next level of responsibility would immediately fall on GOP and Democrat politicians and the media. The GOP pols could run scared at the prospect of doing something controversial. The Democrats could play the race card yet again and with their bedfellows in the media portray tough action as yet another issue to bash Bush with. On the other hand they could all see this as it is: a gift to do what needs to be done with impunity. It can only happen if all cooperate to do the right thing. So I say Mr. Bush, GOP, Dems and media - BUILD UP THIS WALL.