Medical Treatment Instead of New Car

            Liberals, Democrats, Never-Trumpers, and some Republicans are angry because Donald Trump declared that there is a national emergency on the southern border of the United States.

This emergency has been building for decades, and past Presidents have declared that something should be done. Even Democrats in Congress professed that something had to be done about all the illegal aliens who were crossing the border.

            Then along comes Donald Trump who campaigns on building a wall. The majority of Americans decided to give him a chance and voted him into office. He has been trying to build a wall for the past two years but has been stymied by Congress – both Republicans and Democrats. He shut down the government for more than thirty-five days in an effort to push Congress into funding the wall. Congress did not budge, and Trump had compassion for the federal employees who were not being paid. It should have been Congress that went without paychecks, but that is another story. Trump gave Congress another chance to pass a bill that would fund the wall, but Congress failed to do their job once again.

            The President of the United States has the duty to keep Americans safe, and there is a real emergency on the border. Because Congress failed to do their job, the President had to find a way to do his duty. He chose to issue a declaration of a national emergency, and everyone is upset at his calling it an emergency.

            Hans von Spakovsky posted an interesting article at The Daily Signal in support of the President by likening the situation to the family budget. I like this analogy because it makes the whole business seem reasonable.

The president is using the declaration to enable him to shift funds already in the federal budget to border security. The shifting of money from one set of priorities to the more urgent priority of border security will allow the president to spend over $8.1 billion to build barriers along part of our border with Mexico and fund other border security measures.

… In truth, the president is using his constitutional authority in the same way other presidents have, in order to find money to deal with an emergency.

And make no mistake, the crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border is a real emergency – not a figment of Trump’s imagination.

Think of what the president is doing in terms of your family budget. You have money set aside to buy a new car. Then a member of your family gets seriously ill and requires emergency medical treatment that costs you several thousand dollars not covered by your health insurance. What do you do? You postpone buying the new car and use the money for emergency medical care.

            I hope that you think about the President’s emergency order in the same way that you would consider paying for medical treatment instead of buying a new car. Almost everyone can nurse an older car along for a few more months or even years, but emergency medical treatment must take place immediately if not sooner.

            In the same way, the wall needs to be built immediately if not sooner. There is a real emergency at our southern border. People of all sorts are taking advantage of the large loop holes in our immigration laws. They are bringing drugs across the border that kill thousands of Americans each year. They are trafficking in humans, including children. Illegal aliens in our nation are committing crimes, all while being protected by sanctuary cities. There are lunatics in our Congress and leading our largest cities. The President had no other choice than to declare the emergency in order to build a barrier to protect Americans.