A wall of sheer ignorance

       A relative recently posted to social media a comment that "All the previous 'National Emergencies' declared had been to protect special groups." They then opined that the Trump Wall issue was different because it was issued “to protect Americans.”  Like many, the poster of this statement suffers from gross ignorance and the gullibility to believe anything Trump or Faux News proffers. Note I did not use the word "stupid" because an ignorant person can learn, stupid ones not so much.

       Where to start? First, consider that only twice before has a National Emergency declaration and subsequent action involved committing money not previously appropriated by Congress. Both involved military construction associated with wars:  one under President George Bush’s Persian Gulf war emergency declaration, the other under President George W. Bush’s emergency declaration after the Sept. 11 attacks. Neither funded projects that Congress had previously weighed and rejected.

       Trump declared a national emergency on February 15, 2019. This declaration was unprecedented in that no previous declaration involved circumventing Congress to spend money it had not authorized. So, yeah, it’s a first, in that it violates the Constitutional concept of the House having the power of the purse. For the illiterati, that means that all bills to spend public money are supposed to originate in the US House of Representatives. In truth, both Bush 9/11 and Iraq declarations, made on the heels of a real emergency were quickly approved even though both represented a shift in spending, not new (and specifically rejected,) funding. The poster apparently fails to see the post 9/11 emergency as effecting “Americans” even though 3000 of them died. Really!

       I did what the poster was apparently unable to do and “Googled” such declarations. The statement (or implication) that “All previous such actions were to protect certain groups, vice the body politic is blatantly false. Let me rephrase that, it’s a f****ing lie!

       I will limit the list to those post-Depression, since understanding most of the earlier ones requires more depth of history knowledge than I would expect the average person to have at hand.

FDR September 8, 1939  Proclaiming a National Emergency in Connection with the Observance, Safeguarding, and Enforcement of Neutrality and the Strengthening of the National Defense Within the Limits of Peace-Time Authorizations

FDR May 27, 1941  April 28, 1952         Proclaiming That an Unlimited National Emergency Confronts This Country, Which Requires That Its Military, Naval, Air and Civilian Defenses Be Put on the Basis of Readiness to Repel Any and All Acts or Threats of Aggression Directed Toward Any Part of the Western Hemisphere – President Franklin Roosevelt declared an unlimited national emergency under threat from Nazi Germany. Any implication that these weren’t to “protect Americans” is ludicrous.

Carter, 1979    Blocking Iranian Government Property – After the Iran hostage crisis, President Jimmy Carter issued an order freezing all Iranian assets in the U.S.

Reagan – 5 times, all related to trade with such nations as Nicaragua, Panama, Libya and Haiti

Clinton - 8 times generally related to export of potential WMD or trade with other aggressor nations (Yugoslavia, Haiti, Burma, Sudan) (the WMD declaration issue was specifically aimed at keeping materials which could be used for WMD out of the hands who wished America ill, again -to protect all Americans.

Bush (43) 13 times almost all related either to 9/11 or trade with “aggressor nations attempting to overthrow governments in Africa and the Mideast”  

Obama – 11 times, most similar to the Bush trade embargos, and several related to Organized Drug traffickers, Cyber terrorism (all Americans!), and Swine Flu epidemic (all Americans!)

Trump – 4 times, two related to insurgencies in Myanmar (Burma) and Nicaragua, one related to foreign election tampering (and he would know, wouldn’t he) and finally The Wall.

       In summary, Yes, Presidents have issued national Emergency proclamations (supported by Congress) aimed at protecting Americans. Obama twice, Clinton and Bush multiple times, FDR multiple times. The second and more insidious claim is that such an emergency exists and the resources Trump wants to use for a wall are best spent doing that.

       Trying to be brief, I’ll attempt using bullets instead of full prose. I’ll use the term “illegals” since it’s shorter that “undocumented aliens”

·      Illegals are, by every study done, less of a threat to Americans than natural born citizens. More citizens commit violent crimes than Illegals by percentage.

·

   
    All of this comes as no surprise to Art Acevedo, the police chief in Houston, which has one of largest undocumented populations in the nation. The chief has been publicly critical of the immigration crackdown. "There's no wave of crime being committed by the immigrant community," Acevedo said. "As a matter of fact, a lot of the violent crime that we're dealing with is being committed by people that are born and raised right here in the United States."

·       Far more drugs enter by means which avoid our Southern border

·       85% of all cocaine enters by land or Sea.

·       75% of all heroin comes by air from Burma, Laos and Thailand. The rest by human carriers, primarily by motorized vehicles.

·       Far more “hard” drugs enter the US at points of entry than the rest of the border combined

·       This includes Florida’s marine “borders”, where a wall would be useless and trafficking remains high.

·       Trump’s own advisors, as well as the (centrist) Brookings Institute have said, “those funds would be better spent elsewhere. The money is completely misallocated ... the wall is pointless, it’s a waste of money, it’s counterproductive, the far more urgent priority in terms of just law enforcement allocation … should be in ports of entry."

       And yet…..? So, we must ask, why the support? I feel a lot of it has to do with racism and gross ignorance, fueled by fake news, such as “These people come here and they get Social Security and welfare and Medicare, etc, etc.” The problem with the previous sentence? None of it is true. In fact, while there are no real “numbers,” numerous “illegals” work and have income tax and Social Security deducted from wages which they will never get back. The only benefit derives from the fact that a child born in the US can be eligible for food stamps – for the child!

        Similarly, if they present at an emergency room, they’ll be treated. Why? Because Ronald Reagan insisted on it in the 1980s. So before you get all pissed off about that, remember that the homeless wino who doesn’t work  gets free medical care, but you begrudge it to the hard working, although undocumented, immigrant many of whom do jobs you’re “too good” to do, who pays sales tax, pays into Social Security they probably will never get back and has income tax withheld (but will never get refunds for). If this doesn’t make you feel mean spirited as well as grotesquely ignorant, you are beyond help.