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Stage 4: Blog Critique




  On April 26, 2017, a prominent political blogger Ann Coulter wrote an opinion piece titled
Not Building the Wall IS a Government Shutdown.  Her blog post was a response to various news media, reporting that top Democrats are accusing Trump of derailing last-minute funding talks meant to avert a government shutdown by pressing for border wall funding. Her main argument was that by not building a wall is a government shutdown. She reasoned that the government's job is to protect its citizens and the nation, hence failing to close the border is a government shutdown. She also mentioned that one of the main reasons that people elected Trump was the promise that he built the border wall, and by not building it, he will be breaking his promise and betraying the American people.

I personally disagree with her first argument that by building a wall, that it will be enough to stop the " drugs, gang members, diseases and terrorists pouring across our border." This is because statistics have shown that undocumented people and immigrants are less likely to commit crime than people who are born in the US.Therefore, I find it unfair that she is generalizing people who are crossing the borders as gang member, terrorists. Furthermore, it has been shown that a lot of undocumented people overstay their visas. Hence I doubt the efficiency of the the wall itself in preventing people with legal visas passing through the border and overstaying.

However, I agree with her second argument that Trump should push for the construction of the wall because that was one of the promises he made. Throughout his campaign, one of the most consistent and clear promises that Trump made was that he will build a wall if he was elected President. Hence, I assume that those who voted for him wants the wall. Since Trump won the presidency, it safe to say that a significant number of people wants the wall to be built. I feel that as politicians are suppose to represent and enact the wishes of its citizens, it is important that they keep their word and deliver whatever they promised to the best of their ability. If they are unable to do so, how will regular citizens be able trust the government to represent them?
Therefore, while I think a border wall is not a good idea, I think that Trump should try to push for the wall just because that was the promise he made to the American people.

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