201924 - Walls

 
     Pamela Smith wrote an excellent post on Facebook  about issues surrounding walls. Her purpose was to get people to use their own critical thinking skills before jumping on a bandwagon.  I certainly hope she is successful.
     The Wall along the US-Mexican border is a critical environmental issue among other issues, so I decided that it would be appropriate for me to make a few points here about walls in general and Trump's Wall in specific.  As Pamela said, we're not arguing about having border security. We're talking about how best to achieve border security without destroying the environment and hurting innocent people.  
     In the past I have talked about our personal experience living near the border.  We have spent six of the past 13 months living anywhere from several miles to only a few yards from the US-Mexican border.  (x on map below indicate closest locations.) That gives us some rather extensive and close-up experience. But what about a person who not only lives near the border but represents US citizens who live on the border in Congress? 
     Will Hurd is a Texas Republican who represents one of the largest congressional districts in the United States stretching from San Antonio on the east, to El Paso on the New Mexico state line. "The border is broken up into multiple sectors," Hurd said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. "I have four sectors just in my district. I represent 820 miles of the border, 29 counties, two time zones. My area is larger than 26 states, roughly the size of Georgia."  (red line on map below)

     Now I think that most people would agree that a man who has 42% of the entire US-Mexican border in his district has a better comprehension of border issue than anyone else in Washington.  Will Hurd called Trump's crisis a "myth" and the wall a 3rd century solution to a 21st century problem. Why is no one listening to this man?  42% of the entire freeking border is in his district!  

     His remark about a 3rd century solution to a 21st century problem made me go back and look at the history of walls as a defense. 

     (1) The Great Wall of China was built by the Ming Dynasty to protect themselves from the Mongolian invaders. It didn't work.

     (2) The Sumerian's Amorite Wall. 21st century BCE. The Amorite simply went around it.

     (3) The Athenian Long Wall built in 461 BCE. Destroyed by a Roman general in 86 BCE.

     (4) The Constantinople Walls. Fell to the Ottoman who had canons.

     (5) The famous French Maginot Line was built in 1930 to protect France from Germany. It even had pill boxes, bunkers and defensive placements. It failed. The Germans just went over and around it.

     (6) The infamous Berlin Wall. Failed.  

What was it Congressman Hurd said about a wall along the US-Mexican border. Oh. Yes.  A 3rd century solution to a 21st century problem.  From what I can see walls never really work. Just think about it.