# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/61 "2017-06-16T02:59:42Z")
It’s so cute how people pretend to give a damn about low wage workers when it suits their agenda. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/62 "2017-06-16T05:58:55Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > So if you believe that the wall will do nothing to stop illegal immigrants then why oppose it at all? Seems like exactly the sort of make work infrastructure programs that liberals love especially if it provides green energy in the bargain. Seems like a win win win for the leftists. > > Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk Still can’t tell if serious. ---
**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 16, 2017, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/63 "2017-06-16T06:45:11Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > So if you believe that the wall will do nothing to stop illegal immigrants then why oppose it at all? Seems like exactly the sort of make work infrastructure programs that liberals love especially if it provides green energy in the bargain. Seems like a win win win for the leftists. Why? Hmm, let me see, [ul][li] it would give the impression that the US is full of morons (because sometimes honesty is _not_ the best policy[\*] it is a waste of money that benefits no one[/li][li] it is a problem for marginal desert ecosystems[/li][li] it blocks off the rio from the US side[/li][li] it is a total aesthetic nightmare, no matter how nice the might make it look[/li][li] we should address the underlying problems it is supposed to solve anyway, because it will solve none of them[/li][/ul] … and some other stuff I cannot think of just now. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/64 "2017-06-16T09:26:16Z")
Let’s just give all immigrants an AR-15 to please Conservatives ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/65 "2017-06-16T12:34:35Z")
I think if you want liberals to get behind the wall, you need to spend a generation or two actively de-educating them until they are as ignorant and racist as conservative America. Then they’ll easily buy into quick fix solutions for complex problems and you can sell them catheters on Fox News. Win-win. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/66 "2017-06-16T13:09:39Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > By getting rid of minimum wage and enforcing immigration law. > [@Lemur866](#): > > Great idea! The explosion of sub-minimum wage opportunities will surely lead to an economic boom! Folks, there’s a giant reservoir of potential jobs that would be worth paying someone $4.50 an hour, and a giant reservoir of unemployed Americans wishing and hoping they could get that $4.50 an hour job. The market imbalance caused by this government interference is drastic. > > Yeah sure. That’s why the economy is terrible and the White Working Class voted for Trump, because they’re hoping and prayingl he’ll finally lower the minimum wage and make them employable again. _Blow out the lamp beside the golden door, we don’t need cheap foreign labor anymore. Without our unions and the E.R.A., we will all have twice the jobs at half the pay._ -Si Kahn, “Government on Horseback” ---
**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 16, 2017, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/67 "2017-06-16T13:53:08Z")
[Trump himself](https://www.axios.com/trump-pitched-republican-leaders-on-a-solar-paneled-border-wall-2435037888.html) floated the idea of solar panels to help pay for the wall. This is truly the realm of the bizarre. “Solar energy is a big liberal boondoggle! Also, solar panels on the wall will generate so much power we can sell that it’ll generate a profit that can offset a $200b (plus cost of panels) wall…” > [@](#): > > In the meeting at the White House today with Republican Congressional leaders, President Trump spent some time talking up his latest idea for the border wall. According to 3 people with direct knowledge of the meeting, Trump floated the idea that the wall could be covered in solar panels and the electricity generated used to pay for the cost. > > Trump said his vision was a wall 40 feet to 50 feet high and covered with solar panels so they’d be “beautiful structures,” the people said. The President said that most walls you hear about are 14 feet or 15 feet tall but this would be nothing like those walls. Trump told the lawmakers they could talk about the solar-paneled wall as long as they said it was his idea. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/68 "2017-06-16T15:31:42Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > [Trump himself](https://www.axios.com/trump-pitched-republican-leaders-on-a-solar-paneled-border-wall-2435037888.html) floated the idea of solar panels to help pay for the wall. This is truly the realm of the bizarre. > > “Solar energy is a big liberal boondoggle! Also, solar panels on the wall will generate so much power we can sell that it’ll generate a profit that can offset a $200b (plus cost of panels) wall…” This fits in to the “make the Mexicans pay for it” line of the fantasy, as well. Generate electricity, sell the electricity across the border, the money the Mexicans pay for the power pays for the wall. “The Mexicans paid for the wall.” Q.E.D. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/69 "2017-06-16T16:57:04Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I think if you want liberals to get behind the wall, you need to spend a generation or two actively de-educating them until they are as ignorant and racist as conservative America. Then they’ll easily buy into quick fix solutions for complex problems and **you can sell them catheters on Fox News.** Win-win. I shouldn’t ask, but is selling catheters on Fox News a thing? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/70 "2017-06-22T21:41:02Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > [Trump himself](https://www.axios.com/trump-pitched-republican-leaders-on-a-solar-paneled-border-wall-2435037888.html) floated the idea of solar panels to help pay for the wall. This is truly the realm of the bizarre. > > “Solar energy is a big liberal boondoggle! Also, solar panels on the wall will generate so much power we can sell that it’ll generate a profit that can offset a $200b (plus cost of panels) wall…” Apparently this was all his idea in the first place: [http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/solar-border-wall-idea-trump/story?id=48214907&cid=clicksource\_4380645\_1\_hero\_headlines\_headlines\_hed](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/solar-border-wall-idea-trump/story?id=48214907&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed) ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/71 "2017-06-23T02:47:18Z")
If the wall is going to run into so much opposition, be so expensive, impede animal migrations, be a blight on the landscape, etc., then maybe we can build cheaper versions of the wall on top of our already built homes across the USA. Of course, by walls, i mean home-sized solar arrays that are eligible for tax breaks and that would reduce the need to build more daytime/peak load power plants. Maybe we could have Citibanamex handle financing too, so we could build these walls and have Mexico pay for it. ---
**Author:** ![Reddy\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Reddy\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reddy_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/72 "2017-06-23T04:24:42Z")
Speaking for all Liberals: We’ll get on board with the Wall when Trump -Fires Scott Pruitt as the head of the EPA and replaces him with an environmental scientist who specializes in climate change; -Fires Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary and replaces her with a Social Scientist whose focus is Education; -Vetoes any bill which cuts Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, PBS, NEA, NEH, our Public Education System, the Food Stamp program, Head Start and all other New Deal/Great Society programs -Expands the regulatory powers of the EPA, FDA and Consumer Protection Agency -Brings Anti-Trust suits against Big Banks and large conglomerates -Rejoins the Paris Climate Accord -Cuts military and defense spending by at least 40% across the board -Raises the top marginal tax rate to 71% and closes all loopholes. -Expands the budget for Social Security, the EPA, and Federal Education as well as our Public Transportation system(s). -Begins funding for Sea Walls along every coastal area of the country He does all of those, I’ll even help build the wall. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2017, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328/73 "2017-06-23T07:26:23Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I recall being surprised when I realized he was talking about an actual physical structure instead of using “wall” as a metaphor for increased border security protocols. > > (I consider myself a New England conservative, which makes me more liberal on social issues than 95% of the country but fiscally I come on a little to the right of Ebenezer Scrooge.) Heh, you may just have described me as well. But I just can’t comprehend why anyone of any political flavor would want a “wall,” physically or otherwise. Growing up where I did, in the rust belt, it was (and still is, pretty much) the uniony blue-collar Democrats who were always in favor of weird labor agreements and tariffs. But those really never work for long. Recently most of that same demographic has turned over from blue-collar Demo to conservative and I think it’s confusing everyone. 😛 Seriously, though, what have we to fear from Mexico? What would happen if we allowed a full, open-border policy? I think we’d have to reduce or give up the concept of a minimum wage, and that can scare people on both sides. What I’m most against, politically, is protectivism. Even if it harms “us” in the short run. There’s a very simple economic concept (comparative advantage, I believe) in which countries should simply try to focus on what they are good at, forget protectionist tariffs, and let the chips fall where they may. If we all do that, we all we be better off. When we try to subvert that, we ultimately get Malthusian outcomes like the Irish famine. That’s not progress, people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-liberals-on-board-with-the-wall/788328.md?page=3)