Try Using Not-So-Common Sense

Humor me a little longer and I will get back to college planning with the next post. In my younger days, my mistakes were usually met by an adult telling me to use a little common sense. Today, there is nothing common about considering the consequences of your actions or words before doing or saying something. Coaches and trainers in every arena are making a fortune teaching people how to discover and use common sense.

An example of what I am talking about is on display with one of our latest national crises, the immigration situation with Mexico. One idea has been paraded out that is propped up by one side while having holes shot in it by the other. If we are going to spend between 13 and 33 “BILLION” dollars to get a handle on illegal border crossing, shouldn’t we explore how spending that much money can improve the lives of people in the region? It just seems like common sense to me…

The border separating Mexico and Texas follows a river. In places that river has little to no water while holding substantial water in other places. Instead of a multi-billion dollar fence, why not construct a series reservoirs and dams that contain hydro-electric generating stations? There would need to be dredging in places and some farmland would likely be flooded on some areas, but that region could be transformed from a dusty no-mans-land to a thriving oasis with that kind of development.

Water to irrigate farm crops has always been a contentious subject on both sides of the Rio Grande. Reservoirs would solve that problem. Consider how many jobs would be created in the construction of just one hydro-electric generating plant; and the management and maintenance jobs would be high paying and permanent. In addition to making the border more difficult to cross, this kind of project would eliminate the desire to cross the border. Desperate immigrants risk life and limb to find a better life in America. If that better life could be found in Northern Mexico, why risk an illegal border crossing?

This is a plan that Mexico could be persuaded to help fund and the benefits for the region would continue to expand for generations on both sides of the border. With plentiful water, energy and good paying jobs along the US/Mexican border, the immigration problem in that region would practically solve itself. Does that make sense to anyone else?