The standoff in Washington, D.C., isn't so much about money, national security or humanitarian efforts; it's about politics, plain and simple.
President Trump and the Republicans want $5.7 billion to build 'The Wall' to separate the United States from Mexico and stop the influx of illegal immigrants. The Democrats don't want to give him the money because if they do it's likely to be a feather in his cap as we grow closer to the 2020 elections.
I didn't listen to much of Trump's speech Tuesday night and only saw a little bit of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's rebuttal, but I've read some accounts of what was said. I didn't watch because I already knew what each side was going to say.
Both sides are being stubborn waiting for the other side the blink. At this point neither side wants to appear 'weak' so this will likely be a long, drawn-out affair.
Headlines and airwaves are full of stories about the government shutdown that is stretching into weeks. But then again, that's a scare tactic that both sides claim is the other side's fault. For the record the government has not shut down. If the government really shut down, this mess would be over.
This analogy maybe a little like apples and oranges, but it's in the same neighborhood. For years the Alabama Legislature put the education budget under proration claiming there was not enough money. They prorated everything except teacher salaries. I've written here before that if a 10 percent education budget proration included a 10 percent reduction in teachers' pay we would never have proration because there is not a legislator in this world who would vote to cut teachers' salaries. So they cut supplies and other areas.
If a federal government shutdown was really a shutdown and the mail stopped being delivered, the FBI quit working, the military was told to go home and congressmen didn't get a paycheck, there would be no such shutdown. Congress would be scrambling to reach a solution real quick.
What we are seeing in Washington right now is partisan politics 101. If the Republicans have a plan the Democrats will be against it and if the Democrats have a plan the Republicans will be against it. It's like I've said about elections – a Yellow Dog Democrat or a Die Hard Republican would vote for Hitler over Jesus if he was not running under their party label.
I know $5.7 billion sounds like a lot of money, but in the big scope of things in Washington, it's really not that big and the price tag is not what the Democrats are balking at, it's the principle of Trump getting what he wants.
Didn't Trump campaign on the promise that he'd have the Mexicans pay for that wall?
I've heard the argument that the $5.7 billion would be quickly saved if we build the wall and prevent illegals from entering our county and start receiving federal benefits like food stamps and WIC.
Trump used an old saying about how rich people build walls and fences around their homes not because they don't love the ones on the outside, but love the ones on the inside. Basically, they build walls, fences and install high-tech security systems to protect their family and their property.
That's what Trump says he wants. He wants a wall to protect United States citizens and our property.
Build the damn wall and lets move forward. First off, I don't think the wall will work. It's more of a political symbol than a real effort to control the flood of illegals coming across the border.
A wall may slow them down for a little while until they dig their tunnels, learn how to climb walls or come up with other ways to cross the border into the United States.
Floyd the barber quoted Calvin Coolidge as saying 'everybody complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it'. Everybody complains about illegal immigrants (Democrats and Republicans, alike) but nobody does anything about it because they don't want the other side to get the credit.
We'll never stop illegals from coming into the country like we'll never stop the drugs that flow across the border. We do our best to slow down the drugs pouring in from Mexico, but they still come. We took steps to make it harder to make methamphetamine in the United States and simply opened up a major drug operation south of the border. Do you think a wall will keep meth and cocaine from flowing into the United States? I don't. Do you think building a wall will keep illegals from flowing into the country? I don't.
Build the thing and find something else to argue about.
