President Trump has long promised to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Sadly, he has made some progress in building the wall. Equally sad is the fact that many Americans are paying dearly for it. Their property is being destroyed and seized by the government that is supposed to be protecting their rights and freedom.
In Texas, most of the land along the border with Mexico (a border that is 1,254 miles long) is privately owned. To acquire the land needed to build the wall, the federal government has resorted to Gestapo-like tactics–it does and takes what it wants.
These tactics include destroying private property, as the government has done at the National Butterfly Center. These tactics include demanding that a property owner immediately hand over a portion of his 127 acres. These tactics include threatening landowners with seizure of their property if they don’t sell that land on terms established by the government.
That most of these actions are legal is irrelevant. The Gestapo and its tactics were legal. The real issue is why such actions and tactics are legal.
The simple response would be that government has immense control over our property and lives. But why does it have such power and control?
The full answer is far too long for a blog post. Indeed, it would take a book to fully address the issue, and even then, a single book may be insufficient. However, we can present a brief answer that will indicate the fundamental cause.
Throughout history the fundamental political clash in every society has been between the individual and the collective. Depending on the society, the collective may be centered on race, religion, the nation, or some other group. But the clash is between the interests of the individual and the interests of the collective. When the interests of the group dominate, the individual is forced to sacrifice.
In Nazi Germany, the alleged interests of the Aryan race dominated the culture. And so, non-Aryans were forced to sacrifice. Jews were the favored target, but gays, communists, atheists, and anyone who held ideas that clashed with the regime were considered dispensable. And the Gestapo was charged with rooting out the recalcitrants who refused to go along with the demands of the group.
Trump has declared a border wall to be a matter of national security. The interests of the nation supersede the interests of the individuals who own land along the border. Those individuals are to be sacrificed to the group. And those who refuse to voluntarily sacrifice their interests will be forced to do so.
Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.