It's both. Of course they plan to build "a fence," within the bounds of their limited resources. And of course it's meant to be symbolic, to pressure the government to act.
Remember, that was their stated purpose in the first place, when Simcox announced the fence idea.
At the beginning, his group stated: "Our plan: Do the job until our government does its duty. Announce the need for the Minuteman Border Fence. Ask again that President Bush do his duty and secure the border. ... Continue to build fence as fast as resources allow."
No one who read that and then donated had the expectation that civilians would now be in charge of border security. The point was to put pressure on President Bush to secure the border.
I wish I could say "mission accomplished," but the President has not yet secured the border. The pressure thus must continue, as far as possible. In the end, it is up to regular folks like you, me, and the Minutemen, to keep the focus on our leaders who are neglecting their duty.
I wish it so harmless. Go over and check the Minuteman Pac July report that was just released. I suspect the names are pretty much the same as to to donations to Simcox group as to dontaions. If you notice almost 80 percent of those folks are retired. On limited incomes. Now there are reason why those people are targeted. I had a older relative that we had to make sure all her mail was directed to our house because she was sending money to these type of folks she could not afford. That is often who is sending money.
I am not sure if all these people think this is symbolic. Also let me say when I hear that Simcox is using scare tactics and is quoted as saying that there are Chines troops on the border that concerns me. I can hear my Great Aunt now. There are "communist" on the border. Also the fact that much of this is a device for certain people to make money and in effect have a monolpy on conservative media is troublesome. Just saying this isnt all harmless.