The conservative airwaves are still ripe with talk about border security and it’s surely going to be one of the top campaign issues of 2008.
The biggest talk involving the border is down South, here in McAllen, TX, where I reside. The talk surrounds the border wall.
The San Antonio Express News Reports:
Some conservatives are labeling U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a traitor after she slipped an amendment into the federal budget bill passed last month that some say effectively kills the border fence.The conservative radio world and blogosphere has been buzzing with outcry that the amendment — which removed the requirement under the Secure Fence Act for a double-layered fence and gave Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff flexibility in its placement — did just that.
Nationally syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin decried the “incredible shrinking border fence.” Others called Hutchison “Benedict Arnold” and said the Texas Republican used the “cover of Christmas” to ram the measure through.
I’m a fan of Michelle Malkin, but I live by the border and I know what it’s like here. I know that a fence will not secure the nation, but is just a piece of feel good legislation that wastes money, takes private land away in Texas and shuts up talk radio and the blogosphere for a while.
Hutchison defends her position:
“Border patrol agents reported that coyotes and drug-runners were altering their routes as fencing was deployed, so the amendment gives our agents discretion to locate the fence where necessary to achieve operational control of our border,” she said.
We need a secure border, but not in such an inefficient manner as the border wall.
Hutchison’s amendment issue:
“… nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location.”
As a Texan first and a conservative second, I commend Senator Hutchison for fighting the border fence. She clearly understands her constituents, the land in Texas and the issue of border security.
I hope 2008′s border security talk shifts the focus to ALL borders, not just the one I live by here in deep South Texas.
In 2008, vote for a candidate who will secure your nation, but not at the blatant disregard for fiscal responsibility and private ownership in this nation.
