"Secure borders" is a fantasy, just like the "war on drugs" and the "war on terror".  Politicians talk about it in the hope that people believe the government is doing something about it.  It is an insane and mistaken proposition that you can somehow defend against the action of a single determined individual.  Yet the government keeps pouring our tax dollars into a big black hole all the while telling us to trust them.  I don't think so.\n\nYou can't be free and at the same time have the ability to stop an individual from doing something they want to do.  It doesn't matter whether it's crossing a border, taking drugs, or committing an act of terror.  We can't even stop Americans from robbing, terrorizing, and killing each other, let alone prevent it on a global scale.  If we give up rights and freedoms in order to be "secure" then what have we accomplished?\n\nAs a country, we are now in the process of repeating the same mistakes made by past nations/civilizations.  Those who advocate building walls, profiling, and other such measures in the name of security should take some time to review their history.  There is no fortress that can't be overcome and a "fortress America" would be no different.  If you believe that history won't repeat itself and the fate of the US will be different, you're only fooling yourself.\n\nDon't buy the jingoism and the macho statements of the day like "we need to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" or "they hate us for our freedoms".  Those are meaningless statements.  The government has failed the American people and the people of many other nations because it fails to walk the talk.  And because those making US foreign policy have almost always resorted to flexing their muscle, rather than working toward a win-win solution in the best interests of the American people and other affected nations.  We are now paying dearly for such a short-sighted approach.\n\nTo be secure, we need to address the root cause of problems.  Treating symptoms is almost always more costly in the long run and it just doesn't work.  Unresolved problems may go away for awhile, or they may fester, but they always come back and sometimes worse than before.  Tolerance for others along with fairness, and integrity in all of our dealings with others would go a long way toward creating a more peaceful and secure world.  Peace.