Let's Do Talk About Entitlements, Shall We?

So, our Conservative friends say we need this wall. It's vital to America's security and future and therefore we (the American taxpayers) have to pony up the dollars to pay for it.

Here is not the place to hash over all that "Mexico will pay for it!" bullshit, because anyone with three meager brain cells to knock together *always* knew that Mr. Art of the Deal who's been bankrupt 5 times and stiffs everyone he comes into contact with could not make a sovereign foreign nation pay for the damn thing. Anyone who believed that for a split second is dumb as a sack of wet mice and that's no lie.

Back to reality.

So, we need a wall.

We need a wall despite there already being 600+ miles of physical barriers all along the places that a physical barrier is possible in the world of having to work with physics and geography.

We need a wall despite the number of border crossings from the South has dropped every year for the last decade-plus, and most of our "illegals" FLY HERE with green cards and just overstay their visas.

We need to pony up billons of taxpayer dollars despite there being a fund specifically for border security and last year they used less than 10% of that fund.

ALL THAT ASIDE...here's what I (a mere elderly socialist) do not, in my obviously fluffy-headed femaleness, do not understand:

Why should I have to pay for this damn wall?

I don't live on the border. The people who live on the border, many of them ranchers, put up fences all day long. It's part of being a rancher. You need fences. Why should the American taxpayer pay for YOUR FENCE along one side of YOUR property? You're the one who moved down along the border. You knew where your land was. Your land/your responsibility, bubba.

Why should *I* have to pay for *your* CHOICE to live on the border?  I mean, there's tons of empty land out there. Why didn't you ranch in Wyoming or Kansas?

Ah. Wait for it. Here it comes. I can sense the conservative brains all locking on to this with the acuity of melting tar.

But this is for national security! It's necessary for the future and safety of our citizens!

Outstanding. I'm delighted you feel so strongly about the future and safety of our citizens.

So, you're exuberantly for universal health care? Taxpayer-funded health care that would either take the place of or strongly augment private insurance like every other nation in the world provides its citizens would go a long ways to ensure the future and safety of all Americans.

And, you'll stand shoulder to shoulder with me for publicly-funded higher education? Taxpayer-funded higher education for anyone who wants it and scholastically qualifies for it like many other nations in the world provide their citizens would go a long ways to ensure the future and safety of all Americans.

Wait. What? You *don't* want those things because they smack of socialism and you don't want YOUR tax money funding someone else's health problems and/or education? People should take responsibility for their own lives and choices?

Awesome.

Build your own fucking wall. Why should you move to or remain on the border and expect the rest of us to pay for your choices?

Entitled Snowflakes.