# Getting liberals on board with the wall **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328 "2017-06-07T01:35:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/1 "2017-06-07T01:35:37Z")
So I read an article that among the proposals for the wall with Mexico was the idea of covering it with solar panels. Surely such a long wall should be able to catch quite a bit of solar power and it strikes me that if the wall is combined with a green energy initiative that it may actually bring some on the left to be for the wall. What do you think of this idea? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/2 "2017-06-07T01:37:17Z")
Still dumb. Just use all the wall $ for solar panels. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/3 "2017-06-07T01:43:01Z")
Once they decide what side of the Rio Grande they want to try to put it on, then we can talk solar panels. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/4 "2017-06-07T01:47:01Z")
There are people who voted for bad-hair-guy who are not onboard with the wall. It is not just liberals. And I doubt president coal will even be taken seriously on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/5 "2017-06-07T01:53:05Z")
Or you could paint it with pretty colours with pictures of people of all races holding hands, and flowers and love and peace symbols. And announce that the construction company will be using ethically sourced materials and eating only organically grown food, and will employ a quota of minorities. Lefties _love_ that shit. They’ll come right on board. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/6 "2017-06-07T02:08:09Z")
Maybe I’m too far to the center to fit either mold, but I think the wall is a waste of money for something that won’t work, and also solar is mostly a pipe dream. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/7 "2017-06-07T02:09:15Z")
We should build a highway for immigrants to enter the country and pave it with solar freakin’ roadway tiles. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/8 "2017-06-07T02:12:00Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Maybe I’m too far to the center to fit either mold, but I think the wall is a waste of money for something that won’t work, and also solar is mostly a pipe dream. What, even with pretty pictures? Surely not. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/9 "2017-06-07T02:15:29Z")
Sell the electricity to Mexico and they have paid for the wall! ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/10 "2017-06-07T02:17:22Z")
I can’t speak for all liberals but that isn’t why they/we oppose the wall. 1. The wall is a metaphor for bigotry, xenophobia, fear of the outside world and nationalism. That is why we oppose it and that is why Trump’s base supported it. 2. A wall wouldn’t stop illegal immigration anyway. People would easily go under, over, or around it. It would be a $20 billion dollar useless piece of crap. 3. Many of us on the left do not have much of a problem with illegal immigration. Yeah, legal immigration is better but even illegal immigrants contribute to our economy and culture. Many of us do not view them as scary others to keep out. Putting some solar panels on it won’t make a difference. That’d be life if liberals said ‘how about we offer conservatives some applebees gift cards if they give up their guns’. Not gonna happen. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/11 "2017-06-07T02:21:49Z")
> **[Trump's Wall Could Cause Serious Environmental Damage](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trumps-wall-could-cause-serious-environmental-damage/)** > > The effects of building a massive concrete wall range from increased emissions to blocked wildlife migration routes ``` This is one liberal who NOT on board with the damn wall and never will be ! ``` ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/12 "2017-06-07T02:25:25Z")
You wouldn’t be able to get liberals on board that wall even if you had a masonry drill and leg irons. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/13 "2017-06-07T02:39:42Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > So I read an article that among the proposals for the wall with Mexico was the idea of covering it with solar panels. Surely such a long wall should be able to catch quite a bit of solar power and it strikes me that if the wall is combined with a green energy initiative that it may actually bring some on the left to be for the wall. What do you think of this idea? Conservatives, in general, tend to support tax cuts, and oppose gun control. So, how about this as a counter-proposal: we ban all guns in the US, BUT! every gun you turn in to the cops gives you a permanent 2% decrease on your federal taxes. Not interested? Yeah, I didn’t think so, and for the same reason, liberals aren’t going to start supporting your dumb wall because you slapped some solar panels on it. Also, solar panels don’t work real well when mounted vertically. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/14 "2017-06-07T03:28:07Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Or you could paint it with pretty colours with pictures of people of all races holding hands, and flowers and love and peace symbols. This reminds me of the happy pig murals at the Farmer John meatpacking plant in Vernon, CA. . ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/15 "2017-06-07T03:30:04Z")
On the trips I’ve taken down the Rio Grande in the Big Bend region, I’ve seen about seven wild horses, bear tracks, raccoons one fox and a couple of Cessnas flying overhead one day. FM170 is heavily patrolled by the border patrol, but there’s miles of desert and very few roads on either side. Is there any reason for a wall, that might just and might as well get knocked down when the river floods next? Yeah, right. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/16 "2017-06-07T04:16:07Z")
So that you can get a proper pat-down after your next trip, to make sure you are not trying to smuggle tortillas in. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/17 "2017-06-07T04:30:11Z")
Moat with crocodiles or nothing! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/18 "2017-06-07T06:31:03Z")
Is there any economic case for putting a line of solar panels along the border? Most of the border is in places where there aren’t a lot of people. Why would you put solar panels on the wall when you could put them somewhere where they _aren’t_ stretched out in a thin line a hundred miles from anything? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/19 "2017-06-07T06:46:58Z")
“Solar? I _love_ solar. In the US we have the greatest solar. We got a solar energy farm goes all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It’s _yuuuge!_” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/20 "2017-06-07T07:09:53Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Moat with crocodiles or nothing! Or, sharks with frickin’ lasers! You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328.md?page=2)