Advice for Elect Obama on Border Security

Max's advice for February 5, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Max grew up as the son of a man who knew 'ALL' the answers to the problems of the world. Max's father said so! Many times, his father let everyone know that anyone who didn't know that he had the answers was a turkey or a knucklehead.

The famous Ma Bell, the second most powerful force in the world (next to God of course), thought so much of Max's father's opinions, that she made him 'Supervisor of Troubles'. This is true!

The advice Max promised you, President Obama.

Border security works best when established between friends.

Max has always loved history. One of the unique things about looking at what people did, and what happened as a result, is that history can inform our decisions.

There are many version of the quotes about history repeating itself for those that fail to learn from it. All of these quotes and variations point to the need to look at similar events and the results that can be attributed to them.

In the case of building a 1,969 mile long wall along the U.S./ Mexico border, there are plenty of examples to inform us of how well this is likely to turn out.

Perhaps the most famous attempt at closing a border with a wall occurred in China. The first addition to this was started in 221 BCE and completed in 206 BCE by the Qin Dynasty to keep out the Mongol nomads.

It worked in practical terms but it created internal difficulties inside China that led to the overthrow of the very Dynasty that built it. These were unforseen consequences that are not something a politician would want to look forward to.

The original was about four hundred miles shorter than the border with Mexico. It worked as planned for a while. It had to be extended time and time again for sixteen centuries until it finally failed.

One of the difficulties of this wall was the great cost in men and material. The original shorter wall took over 500,000 men to build it. Each new version had to be built and rebuilt, costing much of China's treasure for both the building and the huge armies that had to be stationed there over 1600 years.

The 18 different versions varied in length as one wall after another fell into ruin. The longest of the walls was 6,214 miles in length. The remenants are today are about 1,500 hundred miles.

Other famous walls include Hadrian's Wall, a 73 mile long wall with 80 small guard posts and 16 larger ones to keep the barbarians out of Briton during his reign. Another is the Gorgon Wall in Iran. This one hundred and fifty mile long wall fell to the Mongols in the 13th century. The Maginot Line in France was bypassed by the Germans by simply going around it. As for the Berlin Wall, both liberal and conservative presidents demanded that it be taken down.

All these walls failed to meet the promise of providing security and safety. All of these are examples of the history we are in danger of repeating.

An example of another way to solve the same problem exists within the EU and until the last U.S. government, existed between the U.S. and Canada. Since the end of the last war with England the border between the U.S and Canada has been one of the safest and most secure in the world. State governments along the border had close relationships with the provinces in trade, tourism and industry.

Mutual relationships and fairly open borders can work to make us safer and more secure. The relationship with Canada should be returned to a friendly one of common values.

Mexico has the possibility of having a similar relationship with more open policies so that average people go to a border crossing instead of trying to sneak across the places between them. It may take time to convince the Mexican Government that it must make its border secure too. Unfortunately building border fences in areas of high intrusion may be necessary. Given the history of walls as effective barriers, future efforts should be focused on finding ways to mutually secure the border rather than putting an irrational burden on the American taxpayers.

Max wishes you well in all your efforts to keep us safe.

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Links provide examples of walls that eventually failed to provide security.