Sunday, December 23, 2018

Why No Wall?

     I found this today at Cold Fury:

     Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans need to “abandon” border wall funding if they want the government to reopen, just less than 24 hours into the partial shutdown....

     The New York senator also said Democrats are “open to discussing any proposal as long as they do not include anything for the wall,” showing Democrats are not willing to compromise on border wall funding.

     It is painfully clear that the Democrats are terrified of the Wall, that they consider an open southern border to be indispensable to their electoral future, and that any “we support border security” talk they emit is pure blue smoke and mirrors. They do not want America’s borders secured. But there’s worse:

     A substantial number of Senatorial Republicans don’t want the Wall either. They’re using their Democrat colleagues as an excuse for why they can’t (meaning won’t) fund it. We need an explanation for this.

     One possibility is “follow the money:” that the big-money donors whose support for a Senate candidate is vital don’t want the Wall. Federal politicians are among the most expensive whores in the world, but many billionaires consider them a worthwhile investment.

     Another is “keeping the issue alive:” the border crisis provides a candidate something to tout at election time. It proved potent for Trump, so some Senators might hope to exploit it for their re-election...as long as they can pose as being pro-Wall while never actually delivering.

     A third is dislike for President Trump and contempt for those of us who voted for him. Given the number of supposed “Republicans” and “conservatives” who routinely denounce the president and hope for his downfall, surely that needs no further exploration.

     One thing is clear: Present trends and modi operandi continuing, we won’t have a secure southern border any time soon. Will that make anyone angry enough to actually do something? Maybe a few hundred thousand “Yellow Vest” marchers around the Capitol, for openers?

3 comments:

cmblake6 said...

Good to see you back! Let's get this up and rolling once more!

Linda Fox said...

This is where the New Media needs to step in, and get those donors - and their legislative puppets - on record about their motivations.

So the government stays shut down. So What?

Seniors will not be affected. The "poor" will not suffer. The military will - largely - get their pay. Any function that is held to be "non-essential" will be on shaky ground in the next funding cycle.

Put the pressure on. Ask legislators to push for an amendment to the budget bill that authorizes withholding pay for those weeks that the nonessential employees did not work. They will just LOSE that money forever.

After all, why are we paying people for NOT working? They should lose money, in that case. Individual legislators are free to donate part of their own money to a fund to compensate those employees. But, it's not the responsibility of taxpayers to pay people for NOT working.

See how long it takes Congress to compromise.

cmblake6 said...

Indeed, Linda, indeed. However, what do you think are the chances of that? It would be interesting to see, for sure.