Years from now television as we know it will cease to exist. It will probably happen much sooner than anyone can imagine. Evidence points to the fact that we will soon be able to deliver shows to our computers to view whenever and wherever we feel like it.

Except for live sports and news, we won’t share the cultural experience of tens of millions of people talking about the same TV event the next day at work.

That’s fine, we’ll find other stuff to talk about.

But big networks have a monumental challenge. So do record companies, movie studios, newspaper, book and magazine publishers and anyone else that creates and distributes words, pictures, sounds and ideas. More digital bandwidth means those companies will have to charge much less — if anything — for providing content.

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Which may mean we live in the twilight of an era of American television that has told more compelling stories than any other. “The Sopranos” debuted in 1999 and proved people would watch a show with layered, long-running story lines exploring the social interactions and realistic emotions of deeply flawed people. In other words, real life.

“The Sopranos’” success made possible other HBO shows like “Six Feet Under,” “Deadwood,” “Rome” and of course “The Wire.”

“The Shield,” on FX, is the best of the non-HBO lot. It’s the cop show formula on steroids. It’s antihero, the highly effective, scheming Los Angeles Police Department Detective Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis), forces himself and the strong characters around him into one moral dilemma after another. But unlike Tony Soprano, Mackey possesses some almost-redeeming qualities other than charm and guile.

The final episode of “The Shield’s” wrenching sixth season airs Tuesday. It ends with Mackey discovering the nexus between a cross-border drug cartel and government officials in Mexico and California, setting the scene for the show’s seventh and probably final season.

If that is where creator Shawn Ryan steers the show, he picked a perfect time for exploring an issue far more important than the future of television: The future of politics and policing on our side of the border.

The United States could do two things to prevent an influx of more of the corruption making Mexico notorious. Sharply reducing illegal immigration is one. Abandoning the War on Drugs is another.

The Kennedy-McCain immigration bill won’t solve anything. The only thing it would ensure is a de facto amnesty for the more than 12 million illegals already here. It would do little if anything to boost border security or discourage more illegals. It’s one thing to say we can’t deport 12 million people; it’s another to offer to them privileges to which they are not entitled.

The quickly changing demographic reality on this side of the border makes it easier for drug gangs to operate here. They will continue to bring with them more of the increased violent crime and brazen political and legal corruption always thriving under drug prohibition.

Imagine if all the resources — federal, state and local — spent on the patently futile effort to keep drugs out of the country were used to strengthen border security.

We would still not be able to eradicate illegal immigration, but we could do a much better job to discourage it. We would also foster more respect for and trust in the framework of laws and institutions enabling our economic success — the success that Mexico so desperately wants and needs.

Unfortunately, a greater chance exists for Vic Mackey to join the ACLU next season than for anything to change on either side of the border soon.

Aaron Keith Harris writes about politics, the media, pop culture and music and is a regular contributor to National Review Online and Bluegrass Unlimited. He can be reached at aaronkeithharris@gmail.com.