Commentary:
By Herbie Lopez
The calls for securing the Southern Border are getting louder and more numerous. Leaders of the less enlightened southern states keep reminding us of the many reasons for building a wall along the two thousand plus miles that separates the United States and Mexico. According to the leadership the situation has gone from: very bad and dangerous to grave and deplorable. According to the leadership, “If we build a high enough wall we will put an end to illegal drugs, illegal immigration plus all sorts of other bad things. We should protect ourselves from the bad people on the other side.”
Many people believe the motive behind this kind of thinking is to keep the population in a perpetual state of paranoia, this kind of thinking makes the population dependent on the leadership. One is reminded of the old saying, “be careful what you wish for.” Anyone wishing to build a wall along the border should examine the history and results of a few of some of better known walls of yesteryear.
The Great Wall of China took three hundred years to build. We do not know how it was financed nor do we know if it kept any of China‘s enemies out. What we do know is, because of its sound construction and advanced design, U.N.E.S.C.O. has designated it a cultural icon, It’s patrimony is humanity. We also know; today the Great Wall is a major tourist attraction. The Great Wall is what Economists call a long term investment.
About the time The Great Wall was completed a similar wall was being proposed. This wall was to keep the Delaware Indians out of Manhattan. Very little is known whether this wooden fence was enough of a protection. History tells us that the wall lead to the world‘s biggest one sided transaction. The colonists purchased Manhattan from the Delaware Indians for a handful of colorful beads. The wall is the reason everyone knows the area around Lower Manhattan is internationally known as Wall Street. Transactions at Wall Street are still very one sided to this day.
The Maginot Line was a high tech wall built by the French in 1930. The wall was to prevent an invasion from the German Army. The entire French-German border was lined with large guns placed below the surface and during a invasion the large guns would rise to the surface and destroy the enemy. Ten years later the Germans decided to invade France. They did it by going around the wall, they entered France thru Belgium. The same thing is already happening in this country.
The smugglers are already entering thru the long California Coast and The Gulf of Mexico.
Unlike the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall was built not to stave off any invaders. The Berlin Wall was built to keep the population of the eastern part of Germany from migrating to the western cities. Also, unlike the Great Wall, The Berlin Wall had no beauty nor did it have any real positive purpose. This very ugly wall seemed even uglier in the areas where it sliced the neighborhoods in half rendering some of them total waste lands. During the wall’s twenty seven years it became the most hated structure in the civilized world.
An unacceptable number of people were shot to death by the border guards while trying to escape. November 1989 marks the end of this very sad chapter in German History. The East German Leadership built the wall without consulting any practicing, architects or civil engineers. The wall came down with very little physical effort. U.N.E.S.C.O. had no reason to laud this ugliest of all walls with any cultural recognition.
*** Often, people in positions of Leadership suffer from an Inferiority Complex or a Very Low Self Esteem so they build walls of other objects to cause pain to others, there is no beauty in their lives ***
Today‘s wall builders should not use the Great Wall of China as a model. That model is very expensive. The only group that could finance such an undertaking is the government of China, and they do not want another long term investment. They are investing at lot of money and other resources in South America.
Wall Street is not a model, it is just a reminder to everyone avoid any transactions they haven‘t fully researched.
The Maginot Line and the Berlin Wall were total failures. What happened after fall of both walls is what important in today‘s Global Village, With the Maginot Line gone, France and Germany were able to set aside many years of mistrust.
Today no visas or other type of travel documents are required of travelers and businessmen in this area. This area had become an epic hub of business in the manufacture all things modern, most notably airliners, airliners that rival Boeing Aircraft.
With the Berlin Wall gone the German nation has once again become united and taken up its role as a leading nation in the western world, best of all with Berlin Wall gone The City of Berlin has once again become The elegant city it once was.
The southern border has a much greater potential than the French-German border. Mexico is the second largest trading partner to the United States. A wall would make this area a very ugly place. Immigration is not a crime it is a phenomenon. In the Global Village good fences makes bad neighbors.
*** Charlie Chaplin‘s closing remarks in his 1930s movie The Great Dictator were; “ Take down the Border Fences,“ maybe we should have.***
Herbie Lopez, A native San Diegan, Travel Agency Owner & World Traveler, lopezherbie@gmail.com