It Isn't Joe Biden's Wall

 First off, walls don't work. Oh, they might stymie some for a while, but whether they are meant to keep someone out, or in, people will find a way to get past them. They go over, under, or as we saw not quite two weeks ago. they will go straight through them. Walls, at best, do nothing more than slow the less determined down. At their worst they provide a false sense of security that in some circumstances can turn out to be deadly. 

Walls can also be symbolic. As in, " Hey, look what I'm doing to stop all those Spanish speaking fuckers who are coming here to replace all us white people." That sort of xenophobic political philosophy works particularly well with yokels who wear red hats and T-Shirts that say things like, "Donald Trump is GOD."

On the other hand, the notion of such a wall built for that purpose doesn't play well to those on the left side of the aisle. In fact supporting the construction of a border wall could get you run out of the democratic party just about everywhere except maybe West Virginia. 

Last week, before the Hamas nightmare in southern Israel began, it was announced a new section of Southern U.S. border wall would be constructed. Some news outlets even ran with a lead that read something like, "Joe Biden's New Wall." 

Progressives everywhere gasped, fainted, and bellowed. The word appalled didn't even begin to describe the reaction. It was every liberal's nightmare come true. See there, I told you that old man was a closet conservative.

Biden's defense seemed weak at best. "I can't do anything about it," he said.

Sadly, while it might sound weak, what the President said was true. Unlike the would be King of Orange, Joe Biden understands the powers of the President of the United states are limited. You can't do anything you want while you sit in the Oval Office.

Way back in December of 2019 the Trump administration got congress to appropriate the money, specifically, to build this new section of border wall. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 makes it illegal for the money to be spent on any other project unless congress reappropriates it. That disjointed band of miscreants in the republican majority came together in the House just long enough to turn down Biden's request to do so. 

In other words, unless Joe Biden wants to pull some sort of Trumpian power grab by ignoring the law of the land we are stuck with at least one more useless monument to populist nativism.

Many of us might not like it, but we certainly should not blame Joe Biden for it.

10-17-23