7. Is the action supported by the American people? In the “paid for” sense of supported? Considering our deficit and national debt, Americans aren’t supporting anything these days. 8. Do we have genuine broad international support? Ha! Our strongest international supporters are all trying to get into America illegally. Of course, no doctrine is perfect. Powell himself violated the Powell Doctrine when, as Secretary of State, basing his decision on imperfect and distorted intelligence reports, he countenanced the Iraq War. (Which didn’t work.) But at least Gen. Powell had devised a rational means of thinking about a collective enterprise with an individual mind. If we applied the Powell Doctrine rigorously to American foreign policy, I wonder how many things we’d find that are more absurd and perilous than deploying the military to the middle of nowhere to prevent my lawn from being mowed? ...no doctrine is perfect. Powell himself violated the Powell Doctrine... at least he had devised a rational means of thinking about a collective enterprise with an individual mind...
3. Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed? Mexico, I’ve been told, is paying for the costs of the wall, but there seem to be some risks that the check will get lost in the mail. 4. Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted? There are 16,600 (reasonably) non-violent border patrol agents assigned to the region, and they are tired. But if we gave them some energy drinks to keep them up all night, they could stand in a line along the 2000-mile international boundary and be only about 600 feet apart... Or we could reform our immigration process so that applicants for residency got a quick, clear answer without arrest, detention, and/or years of bureaucratic wrangling. 5. Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement? Other than conquering Mexico? We tried that already. Of course, if we’d left well enough alone in 1846, the people now trying to sneak across our border would be Californians. Frankly, I’d rather have the people we’re getting. 6. Have the consequences of our action been fully considered? No. If it weren’t for illegal immigrants, I couldn’t find anybody to mow my lawn. Not to mention that American businesses (such as agriculture of the kind that’s more extensive than my lawn) are already having a hard time finding people to fill the difficult and labor- intensive jobs that immigrants are willing to do.
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May 2019
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