Many years ago, I remember walking along the U.S.-Mexican border in the Valley of south Texas with my dad, examining old relics from a wild west era long gone. Peaceful and calm, it was a great morning walk with my dad many summers ago.
I'm not sure I'd take that same walk today.
Today, Los Zetas and other drug cartels stretch all along the border, from Monterrey to Juarez to Tijuana, the border is riddled with violence, tragedy and grief on a daily basis. In a recent Time article, an alarming statistic jumped out: over 40,000 lives have been lost in the past five years that is directly related to drug trade. To comprehend that figure, that's more than the lives we've lost in Afghanistan and Iraq combined (6,026 as of June 5, 2011).
Think about that and you'll begin to understand the gravity of a situation much closer than a world away.
Over the Fourth of July holiday one of my aunts conveyed an interesting story which reflects the dangers of border life.
Driving home late one evening to her home just north of Eagle Pass, TX, she drove by a man in a ditch, crawling and alone. Knowing that cartels set roadside traps (yes, even on our side of the border), she drove on, leaving the man to his own fate. Luckily, she stopped a truck just up the road and asked the workers to check on this seemingly stranded individual. This is after all on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert.
It turned out that the man was exhausted and had collapsed from the heat, but it could have easily gone the other way around.
This underscores the need for action. When violence expresses itself so close to home and influences your everyday decisions, a line must be drawn and decisive action must be taken.
The White House and Department of Homeland Security however claim all is well. Stay calm; everything is under control they say. Their response to rising violence is to send an insulting amount of National Guardsman to assist an under staffed Border Patrol.
The time for half-ass measures and political posturing is over. The American people are disgusted with Democrats placating to a potential 2012 voting block that tends to be more conservative than they realize. We're tired of hearing from Republicans that a long, vast fence is the fix all to end all. We're tired of hearing about immigration reform as if that will somehow curb ongoing violence. We have a national security and terror threat at our back door and all Washington seems to care about is politics.
Note to D.C.: Screw politics and actually do something you know to be in the best interest for a plurality of the American people.
As for a solution? Mexico needs help in containing this violence. As a result, I would suggest bringing back the days of the U.S. Marshal and Texas Rangers who so efficiently cleaned up the unruly west of the American frontier in the late 1800's.
Violence begets violence, but sometimes turning the other cheek only encourages the status quo. In Mexico's case, crushing the cartels along the border with overwhelming and suffocating force via Special Forces and other U.S. military assets might the best and only answer. After that, extend the operation into Mexico with the assistance of the Mexican government.
A firm hand worked in taming the wild west, why not now?
ENR
Time: Day of the Dead
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