Don't get me started on Israel, I have friends there and friends int he IDF and their wall is a 100% effective deterrant. But building walls to keep out homocide islamo-fascist bombers from the Gaza Strip and West Back to Israel is not anywhere near comperable to building a wall like that from San Diego to Brownsville. It's a drop in a bucket compared to the water in a water tower. Massive undertaking. I'd do it, but it's no easy task.
I've suggested the Minutemen taking it on running a nationwide fundraiser taking donations over the phone with CC's, in the mail with MO's and cashiers checks, on the net with Pay Pal and other net payment vehicles, and all that money being kept in a single account and used to pay for materials and labor to build an honest to God wall on the border. It's doable, and the American people would fork over tens of millions easy to people like the Minutemen who put their money where their mouth is and have proven where they stand. I haven't gotten any response to that yet but it's doable, and would work even though it would take years. That's just what I'd do. AS for border conservatives walking after this speach, then they're not really conservatives. Not voting because you don't get what you want letter for letter is childish and selfish and stupid. And it guarantees the democrats win if all the single issue border conservatives do that, and then they'll REALLY see the border not get fixed. I've never understood the whole "if it's not done how I want I just won't vote" thing. That's like a kid holding their breath till their parent gives in. I say, "let em' pass out". It's stupid and serves no purpose other than defeating what someone purports to support, the conservative ideal and agenda. I don't like all things Bush and the Republican party really angers me with their lack of agressiveness and inability to have a spine. But I'm sure not going to stop voting because of it. I'd rather stay engaged and try my best to fix them over time. Not hold my breath and thing "Boy, when they lose because I didn't vote, THEN they'll be sorry". Then I'D be sorry because then I'd have to look at a democray majority making policy. That's beyond stupid and childish. That's destructive and putting ones personal interests above the wellfare of the country, and no matter what Bush or any Republican does to piss me off, I'm not going to let my irritation at some pubs come before what I know is best for America; a Republican majority rather than a democrat majority. It's just that simple.
The total length of the Israeli border fence is 403 miles. Yes, the US fence with Mexico would be 5 times that length, but Israel, with its limited resources and need to build in hostile territory, built most of their fence in a little over 2 years. In a space of 2 years the US could fence at LEAST 400 miles of the border, to go with the 83 miles currently fenced, and probably more than that. The whole thing would be up within a decade, and illegal flows would be diverted to more difficult areas, cutting down their frequency.