Today’s hot topic, politically, is the Wall. (We will capitalize this because both Republicans and Democrats have made it so important to their brands.) This Wall, to separate the United States and Mexico, is proposed to keep out migrants from the south from entering our country, as hundreds of thousands do each year. Donald Trump campaigned for this during his run for the Presidency, and now a partial (really partial!) government shutdown has come because of the funding for building the Wall.
Those on the Left claim the Wall will do no good, while those on the Right believe the opposite. What we need to do is to look at the history of other Walls and see what they tell us about their use.
Perhaps the most famous of walls is the Great Wall of China. First construction on this wall started in the 7th century BC, and wall building continued until the Ming dynasty, which ended in 1644 AD. With its several branches it extends for over 13,000 miles and generally skirts the northern border of the Chinese nation. Purposes included protection from the Mongol hordes from the north, but was also used for trade and custom collections. Historians generally agree that the wall was useful for the people of China.
Hadrian’s Wall is another of the famous such structures in man’s storied history. This emperor came to the throne in 117 AD, and began construction of this wall in 122 AD. The wall is 73 miles long and stretches from east to west from the North Sea to the Irish Sea. Reasons for the wall’s building are not clear from Roman records, but it coincided with other barriers in the empire which were meant to protect the borders of the Roman lands. Much of Hadrian’s Wall cannot be seen, as many of the stones used to build it were repurposed for subsequent projects in the area. Still, enough remains to get the idea of what it was used for, including trade and control of migration south and keeping Britannia safe from the warlike Picts. The wall does not perfectly follow the southern border of Scotland, but is close in the eastern part. Again, those who study history agree that the wall served its purpose for the Romans.
One pundit I read seemed to equate President Trump with the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin, when he pointed out that Stalin had “built a wall”. If anyone tries this argument on you, refer him or her to the closest historian who will point out two basic errors. The Berlin Wall, which was obviously referenced, was not constructed until 1961. This was a tough wall for Stalin to construct, since he died in 1953. The East Germans were the ones who physically built their wall in Berlin in 1961, with encouragement from Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader. Also, the wall was built to keep their people in, not keep outsiders out. Many tried to get out; I know of none who tried to break in by breaching the wall.
Would a Wall work? Of course, the answer is found easily — examine the places where walls have been constructed to protect a nation’s sovereignty. Israel, with many incursions by the Palestinians over the years, built one between Israeli land and the Palestinian held territories. Attacks plummeted, and although not eliminated, more than a 90% decrease in such attacks were seen. The American Enterprise Institute’s Michael Rubin also referenced the decrease in border problems in the following instances: Morocco’s with Algeria, India’s with Bangladesh and Hungary’s with Serbia. These have virtually eliminated illegal border crossings in those places. In addition, nations such as France, Iraq, Lithuania, Estonia and Norway are putting up walls. The obvious conclusion is that walls work.
In the places in the United States where a Wall has been constructed on our Southern and Southwestern borders, illegal entry into the country has been reduced by 90 % or more. One such place is San Diego in Southern California, where it is now a safe and productive place to live since a physical barrier, a Wall, was built in the 1990s. Those who oppose a Wall must do so in the face of the undeniable utility of such Walls already in place.
On a more personal level, virtually all Americans use barriers to keep out unwanted guests. In our local community, access to a school is limited by locked doors and by a visual check, through a camera, is required before a person can enter. I taught for many years, and at the end of my career, we were ordered to teach in a locked classroom. My own preference would have been for a physical barrier around the entire school property, a fence topped with concertina wire, but in many instances this would have been impractical without expenditures the taxpayers would not countenance. Some schools do have truly closed campus, but those are not the norm.
Some residents live in gated communities, where getting into the grounds involves more than simply opening a gate. Armed security guards enforce the security within the walled compounds. Virtually all people have walls around their living area, and doors they lock to prevent anyone walking in at any time.
Businesses close doors and lock up premises in hours when not open, because the proprietors know they need some form of barrier against unwelcome individuals. It seems that virtually all Americans use some type of wall to protect what they deem valuable to themselves.
There are some on the Left who claim the Wall is immoral. Plainly, they do not mean the physical makeup of a Wall lacks morality; those who claim this are charging those who erect such Walls are immoral for doing so.
But is it immoral to protect the citizens of a nation against those who would breach our borders? Is that not the task of our elected representatives, to make sure we, the people, are safe in our homes and homeland? To have “open borders” which allow all sorts into our land is to invite the worst of those fleeing whatever privations they suffer in their homeland to come here unopposed and uninvited.
Perhaps those who reject a Wall on our border should show their commitment to such openness. Let Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer unlock their doors, open the gates to their communities and disarm their personal bodyguards, and invite the homeless to move into their guest bedrooms. When these, and other politicians rail against the building of a Wall, they need to show us they are willing to have “open borders” in their personal lives, and we might take them seriously when they wish to inflict such on the 330 million Americans who depend on people like them to keep us safe from unwanted migrants surging across the borders of our homeland. Build the Wall!