Instead of a wall, let’s explore better options
If someone is elected by the people to work on their behalf, the people would expect the elected person to perform in their best interest. Should not, then, that same thought process apply to the president? I find it reprehensible that at the drop of a hat or on a whim of power, the elected leader can hold our country hostage by shutting down the government. Tell me why someone who is supposed to be smart enough to lead our country thinks that it is okay to continue to pay elected officials while the people who live day to day from paycheck to paycheck have to suffer? How many non-government workers were put out? How many were forced to work without pay under the veiled hint of losing their jobs. Why should federal worker’s jobs and paychecks be pawns to get money for a border wall?
I understand that some people think excessive immigration is a bad thing. Our forefathers were immigrants. If back then, the original Native Americans had the wherewithal to keep people from coming here; North America would only be populated with Native Americans. The land was fertile, animals were abundant, there was no pollution, and, it was THEIR land. Instead, our ancestors came from overseas and setup colonies that grew in size. With more and more immigrants arriving, the Native Americans were pushed off their land and forced to live in small, restricted reservations. Eventually the land became overused, some animals driven to near extinction and the air and water became polluted.
While their reasons for emigrating were valid and noble, our forefathers were bullies. They took the land. On the other hand, had it not been for immigration our country would not have become what it is today. For a long time, it was our diversity that made our country grow and be strong. I believe that everyone should have the right to live where they want. As people came here, they tended to settle in the same area. That is understandable. They ate the same foods, they spoke the same language, and they may have been neighbors or even from the same town. But what was and is important is they came here on their own. They left their country and came to ours. Keep your heritage and your customs, but do not coerce us to conform to them.
If people want to get into this country they will. There is no way to physically keep people out of the United States. We have too many borders, too much shoreline, and multitudes of waterways. People can fly over and parachute in or be dropped off by helicopters. They can enter by tunnels or even drive in underground. Instead of spending billions of dollars on a physical wall, especially since people will still manage to get into this country, wouldn’t it be smarter to just change the process? Wouldn’t it make more sense to allow them in thereby recording their arrival from the very beginning, allowing them to have worked permits and applications for citizenship so that instead of us constantly trying to round them up and deport them we could allow them to work and charge them taxes. If this were to happen, there would be a larger tax base. Since we as Americans are taxed out the wazoo, the government would have more money to work with. If they lie or commit crimes, then you have grounds to deport them. My point is, instead of trying to stop immigration, why not just try to control it a little better? If we revamp the whole immigration process, then perhaps people would stop trying to find such creative ways to sneak into this country.
Any smooth running machine, regardless of its size, has many small parts that all have to work together. Our country is that machine and in order to restore this country to its former glory, all the people need to learn to work together. It’s not going to happen by saying let’s make America great again. It will only happen through hard work and dedication. It is going to be through compromise, not temper tantrums. It is going to be through leadership not dictatorship. There’s a saying power corrupts, absolute power corrupts, absolutely. This is truer today than it ever was. As a country, as individuals, we need to take a step back and look at the decisions that have been made. We need to remember that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For every decision there is a consequence. Not just in reference to the president but in all decisions. All I ask is that you think before you act.
Kathy Bartolotta is a resident of Tower Hill Two.