An Immodest Proposal for a Border Wall

I had a dream last night about how to solve our government shutdown. Donald Trump wants a wall. Democrats want more housing. Robert Moses, the master builder of New York City, once had an idea that could combine these two things, but he never got it built. With a few minor changes to represent advancing technology, I think we could dig up the old plans and repurpose them. Behold:

You see where I’m going with this, don’t you? Donald Trump builds buildings, not walls, so this is ideal for him: 2,000 miles of mid-rises and high-rises that form the border with Mexico. The building complex becomes a walkable city all by itself, and the hyperloop means you’re never more than a few minutes from a port-of-entry and the city surrounding it. The south-facing windows, of course, would be bulletproof, and the bottom 30 feet would be steel fencing.

I figure it would cost $20-30 billion tops, and it could be finished in time for the 2020 election. So what do you think? Let’s hear your honest opinions.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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