Why We Should Build the Wall

By all means, build the border wall and do it now!
“Failed” Government Wars, Part 2

What do you remember from history about the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? It brought us “Prohibition,” the drug de jour of the era. In the early 1900’s, the United States government tried to stop the manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Citizens of that time still had enough knowledge of the Constitution to realize that no such government authority existed. So, to facilitate the culture “War of Prohibition,” the states passed the 18th Amendment to the Constitution giving federal and local law enforcement the responsibility to shut down alcohol consumption.

This exercise in prohibition was an abysmal failure. The damage to our system of jurisprudence was so great and the cost was so high that citizens en masse repealed the 18th Amendment just 14 years later. What happened? Simply speaking, government tried to place obstacles in the path of the free market using the 18th Amendment and failed. “Free market” is the key. Not liberalism and government intervention.

In the current war on drunk driving, what have we done as a nation? Since we failed in our attempts to deny Americans access to alcoholic beverages (control the behavior of others, to interfere with a free market), now we take away a persons privilege to drive a vehicle if they are found to have been impaired while in actual physical control of a vehicle. The BAC limit is ratcheting lower each year or two in an effort to eliminate the consumption of alcohol. Local law enforcement jurisdictions have become absolutely predatory in their efforts to catch and convict offenders spurred on by jurisdictions dependent on traffic ticket revenue. (I can say that as a retired police officer who personally was pressured for years to make more DUI arrests.) In the process of this culture war, each of us has had to surrender a measure of our liberties.

Congress initiated the so-called "War on Poverty" in the 1960’s during President Johnson’s Administration. By some estimates, the War on Poverty has not ended and the financial tally of scarce and incredibly valuable resources spent is between 7 and10 trillion dollars. Just using the low end of this estimate, the federal government could write a check to every man, woman, and child in the country for $23,333.34 (over $200,000 in constant dollars by some estimates). Yet, activists still claim that we have poor people (defined as people who have less than you) in our midst. Why? Our intentions were honorable? Didn't we mean well? Regardless of our intentions, the war on poverty was a failure in every respect. If everybody in the United States was born “equal,” why are so many still on welfare? LBJ is currently enjoying his just reward and we are still paying the bill for his and Congress’ socialist folly. Without belaboring the point, what do you think happened in the government’s war on illiteracy?

Today we find ourselves engaged in another long and unfruitful war, the "War on Drugs." Like prohibition, the war on drugs has been incredibly costly in blood, treasure, and personal liberties. Even those of us who don’t use illicit drugs have been forced to surrender some of our liberties in an effort to fight this so-called war. Unfortunately, the war on drugs is also un-winnable because of the free market. There is a huge market demand in the United States for narcotic and hallucinogenic drugs. For example, U.S. growers alone produce nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined. No one is arguing that it is wise to use drugs, and certainly not here. But many (those who are not ideologues) are arguing that the government’s culture war with its basis in liberalism is far too expensive in too many ways, and it doesn’t remotely begin to deal with the market causes. The government’s War on Drugs was destined from the outset to be what it is, another costly failure.

What do these examples have to do with illegal immigration? They are but a few examples of what we might expect if Americans forcefully demand of Congress that “government” do something about this problem of illegal migration, or that problem whatever it may be, or any other perceived problem. Ask yourself, how well have we fared in education since the government took over (seized) the state’s responsibility to educate its citizens? “Pathetic” would be a kind choice of words, but that was never the government’s point. Controlling the knowledge and behavior of others has always been the only point of liberalism. Why does anybody think that a war on illegal immigration will be any more successful than any previous government culture war? The free market will overcome any obstacle government can place in its path. As long as there is a market demand - for anything - the demand will be met. The stronger the demand, the more difficult it will be to artificially manipulate or suppress that particular market.

The most secure facility that any government can construct is a jail, and jails still leak like a sieve. Contraband products make their way inside of the walls of every jail every day. Why, because there is a market demand for these forbidden products. If government cannot stop the flow of contraband into a jail, how on earth do you think it will ever stop a porous, arguably non-existent border with Mexico?

Sure, we could and we SHOULD spend four billion dollars in an effort to try to stem at least part of the flow of non-citizens who are trying to become part of the labor supply in the United States, and particularly those entering the United States illegally solely to avail themselves of our overly-generous social services or to inflict harm on United States citizens. The return on that investment in a 2,000-mile wall would be 1000 to 1. But realize that building the border wall will not by itself achieve nearly as much success as we all hope for. A wall will substantially interfere with crossing the border, possibly reducing what is now an open fire hydrant of illegal migration to the volume of a garden hose – reducing the volume by 90%. That size of a reduction should be justification enough to expedite construction of a border wall.

Red State Patriot

Posted March 18, 2007 12:22 PM
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