a reply to:
Christosterone
Um... actually, you should also be aware that there are many people living on property directly on the border, who refused to give up their lands to
permit the building of any structure, simply because the plans always involved a number of problems for a person living on the land associated with
that potential barrier.
First, all the plans put forward reduced the amount of land the property could boast, which damaged the price they would be offered in the event of a
sale of the property, and taking away private possessions is not a very Republican thing to do, so I am told. Its not just me saying it either, you
have to ask those who have already refused to sell or give up their land in order to have barriers and fences erected already. They will tell you
themselves, and some of them will do so with a .357 pointed at your face, should you try to come and convince them to give up their land for any
reason.
Second, many of the properties bordering Mexico are ranches, where livestock roam over huge tracts of land, in a relatively free state of affairs,
where they are only restricted from going onto another PERSONS property, not onto the other side of the imaginary line in the dirt where Mexico
begins. People living there do not want to have less potential space for their livestock to wander in.
Third, those living a purely residential, non agricultural existence down that way, have voiced concerns over the appearance of any barrier that
might be erected, and frankly do not want their view of the Rio Grande or the land border ruined by some big, ugly obstruction, both because unsightly
invasion of human architecture into a natural space is always jarring, and also because again, an ugly view is bad news for property prices.
So, there is a damned sight more involved than mere permission from federal government involved here, and in fact peoples rights would have to take a
trampling in order to make a hard border possible. Taking rights away from Texans is about as smart a move as injecting yourself with anthrax,
botulism and Y. Pestis, while sticking rusty electrodes into your brain, and whacking the variac they are connected to, all the way to the broil
setting.