The Wall

How many of you remember the Berlin Wall?  That was the wall, built by East Germany, that for 28 years became the symbol of the breach between the Communist eastern Europe and the democratic (mostly) western Europe.  It was condemned by every non-Communist country in the world as a symbol of repression and division.  When it was finally torn down by East and West Germans in 1989 it was the as if repression and Soviet Communism had been defeated once and for all. 

 

Later, when Israel built a wall to mark its encroachment into the West Bank, it too was condemned by both friend and foe of Israel.  It is still there but is still not considered acceptable to fair minded peoples.

And now we have Mr. Trump’s wall.  He has had to flout Congress and a majority of the American people to get it, but by God there will be a wall.  Will it be known as Mr. Trump’s wall, or the Great American Wall, or Trump’s Folly?  Who knows?  Mr. Trump has had to declare a National Emergency to get past the limitations put in place by Congress.  He wanted $5.7 billion, they gave him $1.4 billion.  Now by robbing Peter, he has laid claim to about $8 billion.  Much of that money will come out of existing approved programs.

And what will this wall look like?  Will it be another, but higher, Berlin Wall that we all decried as a monstrous blight on freedom?  Will it have guard towers with armed agents at regular intervals like the Berlin Wall?  Will people be shot for crossing it like the Berlin Wall?  No doubt many of its supporters would like to see all that.  How can we condemn one wall and praise another? 

Some people are trying to compare Mr. Trump’s use of a national emergency with its use by past presidents.  But previous presidents used it for legitimate reasons such as George W. Bush when the 9/11 attacks took place.  Other uses have included natural disasters and wars.  This “emergency” does not look like any of them.  It is just Mr. Trump’s way of grabbing power to get what he, not what the people, wants.  The next few days and weeks will be very interesting.