Close the Borders? Wrong Response.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Every medical (not to mention Wall Street airline investor) opinion is that closing the borders to stem Ebola would actually make the epidemic worse. The 15 people a day coming in and out of the USA from west Africa are, for the most part, involved in the eradication or containment of the epidemic. Stem their travel and you curtail the medical effective remedies. Couple that with the economic issues for West Africa if they become airline isolated and the poverty levels and therefore lack of funds for medical supervision dwindle and fast. The epidemic will get worse.
Of course, there is another lesson to be learned here: Shutting the borders is at best a panic stopgap measure that does not work. The real issue is to stem the tide of any problem where it occurs. Hello? Immigration anyone? The difficulty Americans have understanding the immigration issue is based on a largely false assumption that people want to come here to take what Americans have. Traditionally people have stated, mostly in hindsight, that they immigrated here for the economic benefits only found on arrival, not necessarily any benefits they identified before they left except for one: To escape the horrors of home.
What, the Irish Potato Famine immigrants were actually only trying to get a leg up with the American dream? Nonsense. They sought America for the shelter from the turmoil, starvation and disease they found at home. Want to really stem the tide of Potato Famine victims? Help them overcome the famine and potato blight at home. Once that was done, presto, immigration from Ireland fell off dramatically. Why would the real Irish want to leave the Emerald Isle? They did not. They HAD to.
Want to stem the tide of Ebola from reaching America? Conquer it there, stem the disease, find the reason and stop that too. It is not a war (swat teams for the CDC? American knee-jerk reaction to always fight a war). It is an epidemic that threatens the global economy, our population’s health and wellbeing. Solution: Stop Ebola where it is, not pretend you can seal the border and stop the problem for the American homeland. When United Airlines (one example) lays off 25,000 workers because they have lost business across the Atlantic air corridor, you will pay for that here in unemployment and recession – pay much more dearly than sending medicine, doctors and expertise to stop Ebola in West Africa.
Want to stop the immigration problem? It is exactly like fighting Ebola - stop the reason for desperate immigrants where the problems are, not pretend you can seal the 8,996 mile long border and stop the problem for the American homeland. Yes, 8,996 miles. With one soldier for every 2 miles, that’s 4,498 soldiers at $850,000 per year (salary, benefits and support costs; Pentagon figure), plus on average one Humvee for every 5 men, plus one helicopter for every 100 men… heck, that is already past $3 billion per year. Secure the border? Way, way to expensive.
If there is a major problem causing an epidemic of any kind, it is always more cost effective – not to say humane – to tackle the problem where it starts, contain it there, eradicate the cause, restore health to that region and thereby secure the real safety and security for the homeland.
