Windspike- Glad you enjoyed it. It is important to remember that fences and bridges both have a purpose though. We build fences to protect ourselves and our things. We build bridges to let other people see in. One predicates a lack of trust while the other belies an interest in friendship. And when both are found in proximity, it is because trust is beginning but not yet fully formed. This may help understand the difference between our northern and southern borders. We trust Canada not to come to America to take what is ours, but rather to see what we have. They don’t need what we have and vice versa. The situation in Mexico is the opposite. They want and need what we have but have nothing to offer in return, save for the sweat from their brows. (Which only benefits the businesses.)

Also remember that national security necessarily applies to the citizens of a country, not those of neighboring countries. Our Constitution, despite recent contrary court decisions, is a document meant to protect the citizens of the United States. No other country is bound by those rules but us. The Declaration of Independence, on the other hand, is a document that pronounces certain unalienable rights of mankind, by which we base our Constitution and subsequent laws. Let us not confuse the ideals of the Declaration with the legalities of the Constitution. One should be our guide for working fairly with all countries and people, and the other should regulate and protect our citizens from the abuses of other countries and people.

Scott- I have often said that people would rather live their lives at home and visit abroad than the reverse. If America wants to really help raise the less fortunate of the world, we need to help them in their own countries first.

bushblogger-ultra-ideology can present itself in many forms. a reasoned approach is always the best course to take. And it often allows for more bird-watching time.
thanks for stopping by.

whymrhymer- you must have misunderstood what I meant. not an end to national identity or cultural pride, but rather an atmosphere where people are free to travel and shop and share the benefits of other cultures without fear for their safety. a world where certain universal truths are understood, respected, and applied evenly.

I don’t want to lose our freedoms and our way of life, and I still question some of the “culture” that we wallow in and export. But my not liking some kinds of music or art is irrelevant to this or any discussion regarding the law and the task of government. Suffice it to say that in this great melting pot of America, culture is often confused with freedom. We have many cultures in this country. They are held together and complimented by each other because of the freedoms we have. That is what the world needs to grab a hold of.

The question becomes: Can we keep that which is dear, the principals of freedom, and still secure ourselves from our enemies?

The “world” you describe in your first paragraph sounds like the end of the United States — not a happy thought, at least to me.

We need to make many improvements in our government — make it much smaller, less intrusive in it’s citizen’s lives and far better at doing it’s primary job — defending the US from its enemies.
I don’t believe that loosing our culture is an “improvement” I’d like to see.

Along with immigration reform laws, maybe we should do more to improve the lives of people in other areas. Our threat is not foreigners, it is foreigners with little or no hope and believe America is to blame.

A few years back, I was at a meeting held in El Paso, Tx. For those of you have been there, or live there, you realize very quickly what the border means. The river cuts the line flagrently between Tx. and Juarez, Mx. It is an unnatural slice – of what seems to have been one town. Families are divided by chainlink, and toll gates. Mexican students wait, sometimes, for hours to make it to class at UTEP.

It seems like any policy that would tear down the fences, and build more bridges would be best for the situation there. Perhaps someone who lives in El Paso can comment further, but in my view, like there are no fences with Canada, there needs to be a way to replicate that on our southern boarder.

It is difficult becuase, I think it was Einstein who said it, “we cannot solve today’s problems with the same thinking we used to create them.”