I raise a question I've never seen mentioned about alternatives to Trump's Mexico Wall. I watch a lot of news and read a lot, but have never seen this group of alternative(s) mentioned. Perhaps someone can explain that.

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Thinking about this wall obsession of Trump's (and the media) it occurred to me, how about the opposite of a wall, a deep ditch, like a moat? Then, looking at a map, it occurred to me that our northern boundary with Mexico is about 1930 miles long while Mexico's Southern border with Nicaragua is only about 530 miles long. So why haven't either the Trump or the preceding administrations proposed the idea of working with Mexico to place a wall along Mexico's Southern border (1/4 the length)? Surely it could have been cheaper and more secure to control over land migration there. Seven "dry canals" have been previously proposed to create a second channel to increase trans oceanic shipping. A dry canal is essentially 2 ports for ships to bring cargo to offload containers on 2 tracks of a railway. A cargo is then sent by the railroads to the other ports and reloaded on other ships to continue to destinations. Dry canals 1 and 2 are north of Honduras, one being only about 300 km. and the other 280 km. long. The countries in which these dry canals are proposed might welcome international development of two ports and a dual railroad. It's getting expensive for the biggest (Panamax) ships now to go through the Panama Canal and bigger ones are being built, requiring more locks. Surely 280 - 300 miles of double railway carrying valuable cargo would be easier to guard than 1,900 miles of U.S. border. So why haven't we heard anything about these ideas as alternatives?

Authors Website: http://baloneyslicer.tripod.com/

Authors Bio:

I could be Bernie Sanders older brother by similarity. I was born in Manhattan, 1940, he, about a year later, in Brooklyn. I too am a white male American. A retired college professor of philosophy. We both were born of Jewish parents. I was in Harlem CORE, He in Chicago CORE. We both went to the University of Chicago; me 58 - 62, he 60 - 64 (I think.) And yet, I don't recall meeting him! U. of Chicago had plenty of progressive activists despite being a bastion of Milton Friedman. He went into politics in Vermont in '68 (?) and I settled that year into a college professorship in northwestern Pennsylvania.

I've been a long-time minor activist in the civil rights, anti-war, pro feminism movements and taught critical thinking and social philosophy. I've been a unionist, on the Board of Directors of a food co-op, an ACLU chapter president, a CASA, and an elected Green Party Borough Councilman in my small hometown. I'm happily married, for over 50 years, to a woman significantly responsible for my modest success in life. We have two great kids and one grandchild, for whom we hope there is a decent future! Recently I've been pushing Modern Monetary Theory.

Politically in 60 years I've been everything from a Libertarian in extreme youth, through socialist but now at last I just call myself a Utilitarian and Pragmatist. It avoids useless rhetorical arguments.