Trump’s huffed and he’s puffed and seemingly blown the house down (and Shut the Government Down) over his incessant ranting about a wall at the Southern Border.
Maybe there’s a case some parts of the Border need to be hardened, but we’re not really talking about that. Trump wants a HUGE and extensive concrete barrier (most of the time) along the entire border. While he’s occasionally made allowances for natural barriers, mostly he wants a huge wall. The whole “Beautiful Steel Slat” thing seems a dicey compromise Trump simply wont be able to abide by.
As usual we hear more from Trump’s Hype-Men about the terms he’ll accept to end the Trump Government Shutdown than we get from Trump. It’s become an exercise in Ideology just reading into his Tweet-stream, which is the Diary of a Madman.
He’s not going to get his border wall from sea to shining sea for a bunch of reasons. One reason, however, really jumps out.
No one ever mentions the huge problem thats staring anyone who looks at a map of the US-Mexico border right in the face.
So what’s my beef with Border Wall?
The Walls Unfixable Problem
Ok lets assume the Wall ends up being what Trump promised (rather than what he’s apparently looking for now). A Giant Solar Paneled slab of ‘beautiful’ concrete in the middle of the desert extending deep underground to prevent tunneling (don’t worry, there’ll be tunnels).
That still leaves two problems, or if you want to think in the simplest terms; the same problem twice. So whats the issue? These visual aids start to get it across
All that blue is ocean, much of it being along the somewhat naturally ‘protected’ (from ‘open ocean’ conditions) Gulf Coast.
Its not possible to build a wall across the blue parts of the map. Take my word on that one.
So as you can see we have coastlines on BOTH oceans with Mexico. So the problem with the wall is NOT LADDERS, but BOATS. Or even rafts if you will, especially on the Gulf of Mexico where sailing is generally easier.
Boats, which are form of human conveyance confirmed as viable for at least 8,000 years. Most any boat can lumber up the Atlantic or Pacific seaboards and dare the Coast Guard to catch them. The Gulf of Mexico will encourage even the leakiest of tubs with enticingly (and deceptively) easy sailing conditions.
The cost of naval interdiction is obviously far beyond that of just catching people on land at the border’s edge. It’s also obviously harder and more dangerous for all involved.
So even if you consider the act of crossing the US Border a completely criminal goal, despite how you got here, you won’t be able to turn away from the pictures of crowded boats, loaded to an unsafe point, covered with women and children. Some of these WILL sink and we may or may not be able to rescue everyone every time.
So the pictures will be horrific. We’ve seen some of the awful images of the unfortunates fleeing places like Syria across the (relatively calm) Mediterranean. Drowned children, poorly maintained boats drifting powerless with no country wanting to rescue them.
So the Wall would absolutely raise the cost of Border Enforcement. We will need dozens more fully crewed Coast Guard Cutters on each coast to even make a dent in what will be a conveyor belt of boats.
Refugees Fleeing Syria via the Mediterranean
A Wall won’t cover the oceans. Even the Atlantic Wall in France’s Normandy, was breached in a single day. Because you can’t really build a Wall at the water’s edge from Mexico to Canada.
Even the goddamned Love Boat stopped in Mexico! It’s an Un-Overcome-able flaw in any plan for a Wall.
Look for a new word along the lines of “Sea-Coyotes” to describe the people who will set these boats loose.
The Southern Border Wall is simply an inherently flawed concept. You can choose from any number of negative analogies to describe it. It’s bad out of the gate. Its doesn’t pass Logical Muster. Its falls apart under any analysis.
The best way it say it is “That stupid idea won’t work and will cause more problems than it solves”
Whether or not the Wall would be in fact an Apartheid Wall is a topic for a future post.
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