"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana
That, or they’re politicians who do things they know perfectly well are doomed to failure because they have a personal interest in doing them (like taking payoffs, getting re-elected, servicing big money supporters, getting laid by prostitutes, etc.)
That’s why American taxpayers are being forced to build a worthless wall along the Mexican-American border. The laughable monstrosity isn’t even fully built yet and it’s already failing.
Border wall or speed bump? So many
ways to fail. (AP Photo/Matt York)
A recent article is proving yet again that real people are smarter than politicians. Smugglers and illegal immigrants keep defeating the fence. They establish new routes around it, build ramps to drive over it, dig tunnels under it, blow-torch holes through it, cut down metal posts acting as vehicle barriers and replace them with dummy cardboard posts.
And our own engineers can’t even keep floods from washing it out.
What exists of the wall right now requires regular repair. Bet that ballooning expense wasn't factored into any accountingcrat's budget. Unintended consequences, you know.
People who read history already knew that the Mexican boondoggle barricade wouldn't work. Here are a few examples of failed walls you can post on your MySpace wall:
Berlin wall A tourist attraction today, it once did a good job of keeping East Berliners in East Berlin. It failed because the wannabe socialist superpower, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, fell. It rotted from the inside out, much as the United States of America will fail once it reaches the ruling class's wet dream of becoming yet another socialist world empire wannabe. Once the Russians withdrew their occupation troops German citizens simply chipped the wall into rubble and sold the pieces as souvenirs.
Walls of Jericho According to irrefutable Biblical buzz it toppled with a few choice blues notes blared by a horn blower named Joshua.
The Wall, Pink Floyd Didn't keep anybody out. Everybody got high together.
Hadrian's Wall The Romans couldn't conquer and control the land known today as Scotland so they built Hadrian's Wall and, further to the north the Antonine Wall, to keep the clans from attacking their British provinces. The walls didn't work so the Romans resorted to a much better, time-proven method: they bribed the tribes to keep them out.
Great Wall of China The Chinese rulers spent several centuries, fortunes, and lives (some historians believe one hundred million laborers were simply worked to death) to build the biggest, baddest brick pile in the history of walls. So what did the Mongols do once they decided to get serious about conquering China? They bribed the gatekeepers to let them through.
As far back as 2006 the Washington Post was reporting persistent bribery at the Mexican border. So add greased palms to the ramps, route-arounds, tunnels, blowtorches, cardboard columns and flooding foundations and what you get is a relentless pattern of failure.
The Great Wall of Mexico will never be more than a speed bump. It will keep out a few people on crutches and walkers. It will be mostly forgotten by history. It simply doesn't matter whether you're a bleeding-angst liberal or a xenophobic conservative or a freedom-for-all libertarian, history proves that walls don't work.
Comments
The Mexican wall is a horrible example of politicians using our money which could be used in a more beneficial way. At a time when the economy is crashing they should be using our money more wisely and continue not to do so. What a joke. However, all those animals that are not going to be able to get water and will die probably don't think of it as a joke. Our Texas politicians are allowing Washington to destroy Texas.
I got stalled out thinking about the Pink Floyd wall--hippy memories--for a moment, then back on track with the walls of other countries. Why do men build walls/fences, even a dog can dig under one, and all he has in his arsenal are petty-paws.
Berlin Wall: Kept people in, not out. Americans are still free to go to Mexico, if they dare.
Walls of Jericho: Act of God.
Pink Floyd: metaphorical, not real, although drug addicts might be stopped by it. I have no desire to get high with criminals.
Hadrian's Wall: worked extremely well until the Romans abandoned Britian in the early 5th century and the locals didn't keep it up.
Great Wall of China: was built in segments over a period of 1700 years, worked very well. Mongols conquered by outbreeding the Han, not by climbing over the wall. Mongols (who allowed the water works to crumble) ousted by Ming dynasty, which thrived in the shadow of the wall for 400 years. If only ours lasts that long and works so well. Mings fell to an internal revolt, not invaders coming over the wall. Manchus took over by virtue of superior technology.
If our wall works like a speed bump, slowing the invading hordes down enough for the feds to catch them, all very well and good. The surveillance technology is effective combined with the wall. I am tired of subsidizing other people's cheap labor with my taxes. And I am tired of my country being overrun by peons and criminals. Oh, and the US wall has holes built in it so animals can pass back and forth, although I have never known a cat that couldn't get over any fence.
The wall would be unnecessary to a free society. First, ban all government-run welfare. It would stop the flow of non-working immigrants into the country. Second, end the failed drug war. It would stop the flow of drugs into the country. Result: billions saved in taxes and a freer society. The wall is important only to an authoritarian society such as the USA.
Which is why armed border patrol with orders to shoot to kill are required.
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