RIDING FENCE by Jim Redwine

Gavel Gamut

By Jim Redwine

(Week of 14 December 2015)

RIDING FENCE

Politicians and pundits are demanding economic development and security. The conundrum is, how do we get both? Our economic welfare, security if you will, depends significantly on immigration and tourisms. About one third of our technological and scientific innovation comes from highly skilled immigrants and foreign tourism accounts for over a million jobs and over fifty million international visitors each year. Each of these foreigners spends about $4,500 in the United States.

Not only skilled workers but also millions of young, strong, unskilled immigrants are needed to do those jobs our aging population cannot or cares not do.

According to some political and media commentators both goals of economic security and physical safety cannot be addressed without restricting the nationalities, creeds and religions of those we allow into America. So the problem is, whom do we exclude? It appears to me that a reasonable approach would be to look to history to determine who the potential troublemakers might be.

As numerous leaders have suggested, if a country has sought to do us harm in the past, we should examine elements of its character, its dominant religion for example, and exclude citizens from that country as well as adherents to that religion.

A popular theme is the erection of walls to keep out potential terrorists. As Robert Frost (1874 – 1963) wrote in his poem Mending Wall, “good fences make good neighbors”, MAYBE! First we need to determine whom we wish to wall out. Then whoever is left we can let in.

It seems reasonable to me that those countries who have attacked us should be suspect. Starting with France before the U.S. was the U.S. (1754 – 1763) in the French and Indian War, we should exclude all Frenchmen (and women).

Then those pesky British attacked us twice. They even burned our capitol. They should be out.

We almost had to go to war over Canada (remember 54/40 or Fight?) in 1844 – 1846. We need a wall along our northern border.

Then Mexico got upset because we took Texas (I say give it back) in 1846 – 1847. Let’s have barbed wire from California to Louisiana.

The next fence we need to build will need cooperation in erection and maintenance as the North and South were both invaded during the Civil War (1861 – 1866). Perhaps using the Mason-Dixon Line and extending it from sea to sea would work.

Spain took umbrage with our claims to Cuba and Puerto Rico (1898) and had to be put in its place. A fence would not be practical but we could exclude all Spanish visitors and immigrants.

Of course, Germany, Austria and Hungary (1914 – 1918) and once again along with Japan and Italy (1941 – 1945) are too bellicose to ever be trusted.

Then there are the Russians, the old Soviet Union, who even tried to put the ultimate terrorist weapons ninety miles from our shores.

North Korea and China (1950 – 1953) cost us over fifty thousand lives and Viet Nam (1955- 1975) proved those of the Shinto and Buddhist faiths are our enemies too.

It should be noted that most of the other peoples who have tried to kill us have been Christian.

So we now know where to build the fences and whom to exclude. We just need to determine where we are going to get foreigners to do our work, keep our Social Security system afloat and create new products and inventions.

Although, such murderous attacks as 9-11 and San Bernardino were perpetrated by individuals or groups who claimed to follow their version of Islam, history establishes that about the only actual countries that have never attacked our homeland, although we have invaded some of them, are Islamic/Arabic countries. Perhaps we should open our Golden Door for them.