Borders

Not walls.

Making sure your house isn't burning doesn't mean not paying attention to what's going on in the neighborhood. Borders are not impermeable walls, but they shouldn't be looked at as invisible (and, consequently in many views, not real).

Americans currently need things the rest of the world has, and vice versa. The ability for complete self-reliance isn't necessary. In some circles that share my view in this area, the idea of self-reliance has even become a distraction. But issues of this complexity are not black and white, right answer/wrong answer, on/off, in nature.

The dials on all movement in and out of this part of the world need to be turned down. First and foremost, the spigot of imported oil, but down through all aspects of life. The flow of timber out; the flow of "cheap" goods in; the flow of talent out; the flow of, even if talented, massively disadvantaged people in.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The door is no longer golden. This ideal was articulated in the late 19th c. when the teeming shore was all that could send its huddled masses. The Statue of Liberty, erected over 125 years ago, could not have predicted the world-wide inland massing of people that would accompany the waves of tired and poor that crashed down on our shores. It's past time to let go of the limited scope her light had

There is no more shore, no more masses yearning. There is a mass; the land composed of the homeless, the seas of all those tempest-tost.

We can recind our open invitation now. And while we're at it let's drop the notion that everyone is giddy with excitement about sending back their RSVP. The mail carries dangerous things.