Fences

 Fences in reference to Trump 

Robert Frost, who spoke at the inauguration of John F Kennedy, once wrote that “Good fences make good neighbors”.  It was a signature line in a poem set in a pastoral setting.  This line resonants with me as I think to January when another president will be inaugurated.  Trump has also spoken, although less eloquently, on the issue of fences or walls and their relationship with neighbors.  I believe Trump in his own way believes what Frost says in his poem about making good neighbors, yet he speaks from the point of view of an isolationist.

It has always been my view that when mediation fails, when negotiations fail, when all civilized form of reasoning and civility fail, then people, politicians, revel at building walls.

In an historical perspective from the Great Wall of China to the Berlin Wall and everything in between walls do not have a high success rate.  In terms of a cost benefit analysis their return on the dollar in terms of security is actually quite low.  Yet even today The Israelis have built a wall separating them from the Palestinians.  During the recent Olympics in Rio de Janeiro a wall was erected to prevent foreign tourists from seeing the extreme poverty in certain parts of the city as they made their way to various sport venues. 

Walls are the brick and mortar manifestation of social /political failures. Yet Trump has promised to build his wall separating Mexico from the continental United States. Trump will fail as will his wall.

Frost repeated his prediction in many, if not most, of the lectures and public appearances he gave over the subsequent months, and continued to endorse the candidate whenever possible. Kennedy in return quoted from the final stanza of Frost’s poem "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" at the close of many of his campaign speeches: “But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep.”