Walls are not a new concept

Twelve to fifteen billion dollars.  That’s a lot of cash.  That’s more money than many countries in the world are totally worth. 

And we have a guy that wants to spend that kind of money, your money and mine, on a wall. 

( And it won’t be his money.  Remember?  He told us he doesn’t pay taxes.)

(My Pop always said “ Be wary of the guy who’s spending the other fella’s money”).

But where does that wall go?  It sounds like a wall that’s a few feet wide, pretty tall, and pretty long.

Goes across the bottom of three or four states. I’d say that’s a lot of money for a little coverage.

Now walls are not a new concept. For hundreds of centuries in fact, walls have been being built.

But there are two unique features about this wall;  It will be the most expensive wall ever built.  

And it will be the first wall ever built by a democracy . 

A country that  was  based on and seemingly still professes  a fundamental principle of equality and freedom. 

A nation that was founded, conceived and flourished under the care of emigrants.  

There is no doubt  however that such a wall will have one feature in common with all the other walls built throughout the thousands of years of wall building; 

 it won’t work.  None ever have.  From the Great Wall of China, to Hadrian’s Wall, The Trojan Wall, The Walls of Jericho, to the Berlin Wall.

(Personal note:  I have a little jar of dust from that wall on my desk. Gift from a German veterinarian that was there.)  

But the list of walls which have failed ( i.e. all of them) goes on to probably even include the wall to keep your neighbors’ dog out.   

But why the wall in the first place?  The proponents say it’s to keep people from coming into the United States. 

Well why do those people want to come here anyway?  There must be something here that we offer and they want. 

I’m guessing jobs.  Probably jobs that you and I don’t want to do.  But jobs that need be done if we want oranges, apples, beets, or clean potatoes on our tables. 

Or clean sheets and showers in our motel room.  Are these people, these  “Mexicans” taking such jobs away from  us  ‘Real Americans’? 

There’s a lot of job offers in the Phillips County News and Super Shopper every week that seem to go unfilled.

So it’s a wall to keep drugs out.  That’s a good idea for spending fifteen billion dollars. 

Now having been in business for a few years I learned that one of the fundamental ‘rules’ of production sales is to offer for sale what the customer wants to buy. 

I didn’t stock branding supplies in October. 

If “Mexicans” are selling drugs in the United States, a reasonably intelligent businessman might conclude that someone in the United States is buying them.  

Why are ‘they’ bringing drugs here if we Real Americans aren’t buying them?  Economics: 101; Sell what people want to buy. 

Maybe we need a businessman in the White House.

If drugs are a problem, the supplier isn’t the real problem.  He’s just out to make a buck. The end user is the one with the problem ( Toxicology - Addiction: 101). 

And one fundamental fact about addictive substances, be they street drugs, booze, or script pills;  If a user wants to use them, he will find a supplier (AA: 101).

Think ‘Prohibition; 1920’s’.  No shortage of booze then.  Script pill abuse today.  Script pill abuse today out weighs all other substance abuse problems combined.   

A wall, a fifteen billion dollar wall will not keep the neighbor’s punk kid, or his wife from finding pills.  Or booze.  Or  drugs. There’s no treatment centers for drug peddlers.

As Abe Lincoln once said, our problems have always come from within our shores, not from without.   

And if, as we have before, we continue to face our issues honestly and squarely, and not from  a fear-based, irrational position, we will  continue to prevail as a world leader. 

But world leaders are not acknowledged, recognized or respected for their fears or ignorance. 

And then there’s the money.  (Pappy always said that if a man tells you it ain’t about the money,

it’s about the principle of the thing.….it’s the money.).  But ten, fifteen billion dollars could do so much good   throughout all of America;  

infrastructure; roads, bridges, schools, education, medical research, unwanted and uncared for babies and kids.  Maybe even veterans’ affairs. 

This kind of money could be used for the benefit of so many people all across America, not just along a few feet at the bottom of three or four states.

America has always acted on principle, not fear.  America has always built bridges, not walls. 

The history, the heritage and the legacy of America has been that of a land which  offers a cup of hope to those who need succor and encouragement;  

a land which has always invited, even asks for   “your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me”. 

Maybe I’m getting off on another topic here, but the bottom line when we talk about the people who came to America  means that we’re talking’ about my ancestors.  

And probably yours as well. 

Some day maybe I’ll tell you how some of mine relatives got (sent) here.

Keep The Faith;  

Ol’ Doc Curtis

Malta