Drug Wars

A Thin, Bloody Line

Borders are artificial lines. Even when they follow natural divisions such as rivers or mountain ranges, borders are still artificial. They are imaginary lines that different governments (or other official groups of people) have decided marks the place on the earth where the authority and power of one group ends and the power and authority of the next group begins.

Borders are in general a good idea because they tend to reduce the overall amount of violence in the world by dividing potential combatants into different regions. The fact that wars are a constant in human society demonstrates that borders are too porous to stop all violence. But borders that were absolutely closed would prevent all trade, which would be catastrophic. The United States and Mexico do not want an end to trade. The governments want an end to trade in illegal drugs (or...
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