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Ron Paul Breaks Down the Trump Wall

A Better Solution Than Trump’s Border Wall

By

Ron Paul Institute

January 31, 2017

 

Just one week in office, President Trump is already following through on his pledge to address illegal immigration. His January 25th executive order called for the construction of a wall along the entire length of the US-Mexico border. While he is right to focus on the issue, there are several reasons why his proposed solution will unfortunately not lead us anywhere closer to solving the problem.

First, the wall will not work. Texas already started building a border fence about ten years ago. It divided people from their own property across the border, it deprived people of their land through the use of eminent domain, and in the end, the problem of drug and human smuggling was not solved.

Second, the wall will be expensive. The wall is estimated to cost between 12 and 15 billion dollars. You can bet it will be more than that. President Trump has claimed that if the Mexican government doesn’t pay for it, he will impose a 20 percent duty on products imported from Mexico. Who will pay this tax? Ultimately, the American consumer, as the additional costs will be passed on. This will, of course, hurt the poorest Americans the most.

Third, building a wall ignores the real causes of illegal border crossings into the United States. Though President Trump is right to prioritize the problem of border security, he misses the point on how it can be done effectively and at an actual financial benefit to the country rather than a huge economic drain.

The solution to really addressing the problem of illegal immigration, drug smuggling, and the threat of cross-border terrorism is clear: remove the welfare magnet that attracts so many to cross the border illegally, stop the 25 year US war in the Middle East, and end the drug war that incentivizes smugglers to cross the border.

The various taxpayer-funded programs that benefit illegal immigrants in the United States, such as direct financial transfers, medical benefits, food assistance, and education, cost an estimated $100 billion dollars per year. That is a significant burden on citizens and legal residents. The promise of free money, free food, free education, and free medical care if you cross the border illegally is a powerful incentive for people to do so. It especially makes no sense for the United States government to provide these services to those who are not in the US legally.

Likewise, the 40-year war on drugs has produced no benefit to the American people at a great cost. It is estimated that since President Nixon declared a war on drugs, the US has spent more than a trillion dollars to fight what is a losing battle. That is because just as with the welfare magnet, there is an enormous incentive to smuggle drugs into the United States.

We already know the effect that ending the war on drugs has on illegal smuggling: as more and more US states decriminalize marijuana for medical and recreational uses, marijuana smuggling from Mexico to the US has dropped by 50 percent from 2010.

Finally, the threat of terrorists crossing into the United States from Mexico must be taken seriously, however once again we must soberly consider why they may seek to do us harm. We have been dropping bombs on the Middle East since at least 1990. Last year President Obama dropped more than 26,000 bombs. Thousands of civilians have been killed in US drone attacks. The grand US plan to “remake” the Middle East has produced only misery, bloodshed, and terrorism. Ending this senseless intervention will go a long way toward removing the incentive to attack the United States.

I believe it is important for the United States to have secure borders, but unfortunately, President Trump’s plan to build a wall will end up costing a fortune while ignoring the real problem of why people cross the borders illegally. They will keep coming as long as those incentives remain.

From Lewrockwell.com, here.

Judaism Surrogated, Substituted and Secondhand

SHMITA FROM CHU”L?

A number of years ago, there was an ad for a fundraising project of some organization. Doesn’t matter what organization. Their pitch went something like this: Now you can observe Sh’mita while living in Chutz LaAretz. Here’s your chance to perform this special Eretz Yisrael mitzva from the comfort of your home – without even coming to Israel.

It went something like that. Here’s how it went. For a modest donation of $36, you can buy a square centimeter of land in the Galil. You actually got a deed for your land purchase. The whole plot of land was to lay fallow during the Shmita year, thereby, each owner would fulfill the mitzva of V’HASH’VI’IT TISHM’TENA from Parshat Mishpatim and scrupulously avoid the four Shmita prohibitions from Parshat B’har.

Clever fundraising ploy! But not the point. Does it ‘work’ halachically? Also not the point. The point is that Sh’mita is one of the Mitzvot HaT’luyot BaAretz. One of the mitzvot connected to the Land of Israel. Jews are supposed to live in Eretz Yisrael (that’s its own mitzva) and they are supposed to keep many mitzvot that can only be done here.

Which mitzvot of this type apply today by Torah law, which by Rabbinic decree, and which do not apply until we have a duly constituted Sanhedrin, majority of the Jews of the world living in Eretz Yisrael, Yovel (also from this week’s sedra) back in full swing… is also besides the point.

The Jewish people belong in Eretz Yisrael. This is where G-d always planned that we should be after He took us out of Egypt. Our various exiles were brought upon us when we failed to keep the Torah, when we failed to remain faithful to G-d. But Eretz Yisrael was always the goal – and still is.

And how about the service that a number of organizations provide? Fax us a prayer and we will insert it into the cracks of the Kotel for you. Whatever merit the idea has – there is something fundamentally wrong with it.

Which part of the following would you say is the most significant? Being in Israel. Being in Jerusalem. Davening at the Kotel. Putting a k’vittel in the Kotel? We vote for the first three. But who needs them if you can do the fourth by fax?

Would you believe that there are people who regularly visit the Kotel… via the various Kotel cams? Something’s wrong.

Which brings us around to repeating a theme of Lead Tidbits past. In checking our archives, we found the idea expressed a few different ways every few years. It has to do with the famous question, MA INYAN SHMITA EITZEL HAR SINAI? What is the reason for mentioning Har Sinai in the introductory pasuk to the laws of Sh’mita? Rashi gives his famous answer, based on earlier sources. The following is not meant to detract at all from Rashi’s answer. It’s just another way of looking at things, another way of reacting to the pasuk.

Har Sinai represents Torah. Shmita represents Eretz Yisrael. Not only is Sh’mita a mitzva connected to the Land, it is also the mitzva singled out by the Torah, the neglect of which brings exile upon the Jewish People. Torah and Eretz Yisrael. What’s the connection? What does Eretz Yisrael have to do with Torah? Would someone ask that? No one should, but some Jews probably wonder.

The first time that G-d appeared to Moshe, He told him that He would descend into Egypt to bring the People up from there to Eretz Yisrael. G-d did not say, here’s the plan: 1. Take the people out of Egypt. 2. Give them the Torah. 3. Bring them to Eretz Yisrael. He said it in one pasuk: take us up from Egypt to Eretz Yisrael. On the way? Yes, we were to receive the Torah. That is the reason we are a nation. To live a Torah life… in Eretz Yisrael. What about when we are exiled? Torah in our places of exile. But THE place for a Torah way of life is in Eretz Yisrael.

Vayikra 25:38 (in B’har) says it well: I am HaShem, your G-d, Who took you out of the land of Egypt , to give you the Land of Canaan, to be G-d unto you. The Torah was given at Sinai, outside Eretz Yisrael, to make sure we know that Torah must be kept even in exile. By introducing the portion of Sh’mita and Yovel with the ‘extra’ words, B’HAR SINAI, the Torah is making sure that we know the connection between Torah and Eretz Yisrael.

Do we have everything here yet? No, we still await the Mikdash, and more Jews.

From OU Israel, here.

Making Judaism ‘Fit’

The Desert – A Blank Canvas

By Rabbi Yaacov Haber

Where important meetings, conventions or summits take place location is of the utmost importance. The greatest political minds come together to choose Oslo or Geneva. They search the globe for political neutrality, proper security and appropriate ambiance. The location of a meeting is not incidental but crucial to the success of that gathering.

The most important meetings in history, the meetings between G-d and man, strategically took place in the most barren spot on Earth; the desert that stands between Raamses and Jerusalem. G-d could have spoken to us in an elegant conference center in Egypt. He could have waited until we reached the Holy Land and spoke to us at the Holy of Holies, or at the spot of the Akeida. He could have also made the desert into a rain forest. However, for the appropriate location, the right atmosphere and the proper mood, G-d chose the desert. Why?

In order to accept the Torah we should feel desert-like. The Talmud speaks about how a desert feels. Not opulent, not holy, but like a desert – barren.

The Chazon Ish was one of the greatest luminaries of the last century. His in-depth analyses of astronomical and geological subjects made his contribution unique in history. He was a brilliant man renowned for his piety and kindness. A peculiar aspect of the Chazon Ish however was his refusal to be involved in any debate or even dialogue with other leading Rabbonim. Rabbonim resented this and criticized the Chazon Ish for departing from standard rabbinic practice. The Chazon Ish once wrote about his policy. “It is not my way to enter into debate, because differences of opinion are usually caused by personal events that may have taken place years earlier, even during ones childhood. Any proof I will bring will not change an embedded opinion. I therefore refrain from answering.” (Igros vol. 1;28)

For those of us who grew up in America and are comfortable in this society and culture, accepting the Torah and its values is not always simple. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, we start with a culture – a culture we enjoy – and we try with all our hearts to fit Torah into it. Feeling like a desert is feeling like a new canvas, ready to accept any color, material or pattern imposed on it. We are not in a midbar, we are in New York!

There are some hard questions the Torah wants us to ask ourselves. When we choose our clothing, or the place we daven, do we choose them according to the Torah or according to the prevailing styles, trying with a very big shoehorn to make them halachic? When we make decisions about how many hours we work and how many hours we spend with our children, are we thinking Sinai or America? When we think of our roles, are we emulating Moses and Miriam, or talk show hosts, dot-com CEO’s and movie stars? We are Modern Jews. Being modern means applying the Torah to modern situations and keeping Torah alive and attuned to contemporary society. Being modern does not mean trying to maintain my modernism even if the Torah is challenging it.

So for this week’s Parsha, and in preparation for Shavuos, close your eyes and meditate: I am a desert. I am thirsty. I am owned by no-one. I am humble. I am free. I will receive the imprint of any footstep that treads on me. I am a blank canvas, I am ready to receive the Torah.

From Torah Lab, here.