Local opinion: We must find ways to fix nation, not break it

I am a bit clumsy, I admit. I am always in too big a hurry. I move too fast, misjudging my strength. In the process of trying to fix something, I end up breaking it instead.

Maybe that’s why what is happening in our nation feels a bit too familiar. We have problems that need to be solved. And yet, instead of fixing them, it feels like we are making things worse, moving too fast or in the wrong direction. It feels like we are creating more of a mess.

If abortions are problematic for parties in power, spend the same amount providing solutions, rather than after-the-fact prosecutions. No woman would choose an abortion if they had better choices to prevent pregnancy. Education for both sexes and easy access to contraceptives would be a start. Funding research on male contraceptives would be even better.

If school shootings and access to guns are controversial, fix it. Protect the republic’s Second Amendment rights by all means, but not at the expense of protecting the public itself. Reasonable background checks and restrictions on high-capacity magazines will ensure the intent of the Constitution is maintained yet keep deadly weapons out of the hands of those who would do harm to innocents.

Taking over entire cities such as Washington D.C. and threatening to do the same in Chicago and Baltimore to reduce crime is counterintuitive for a Republican administration whose party is built on less government. Using force to reduce crime, yet allowing unrestricted gun access, is only asking for trouble.

If immigrants who arrived here illegally are worrisome, why not fix that in the most humane way possible rather than the least? Instead of spending tax dollars on ICE agents going to school houses or peaceful neighborhoods, why not spend the same amount helping those who are here without committing a crime go through a well-thought-out process for becoming a citizen? Currently, the only way to even begin the process is to risk a return to a country they may never have known, a risk with no guarantee of success.

Miles of our nation’s borders are already monitored, guarded, and protected by Border Patrol using electronic surveillance. This is no longer the Dark Ages, where forts and walls must be fortified to protect the kingdom. Agents know where frequent access occurs. There are hundreds of miles of hot, barren desert where no one crosses. A wall, painted black, is not needed. The wall itself often gets in the way of agents’ efforts to visually monitor the landscape. Distinguishing between the additional vehicles traversing the border makes their job harder, not easier. The additional porta-potties, water, and fuel create more of a burden to the environment.

The long-term impact of the wall on our wildlife here in the southwest is immense. Many species can no longer traverse their usual corridors and die trying to get through the four-inch gaps in the wall. Mountain lions, jaguars, ocelots, deer, porcupines, javelina, and many other species will soon see their numbers and their gene pools impacted. What was done in haste may never be undone.

If there is concern about the safety of vaccines, make them safer. The reduced number of deaths from smallpox, measles, and the polio vaccines many received as children demonstrates the wisdom of this.

If schools are not performing as the public desires, why take dollars away, funding charter schools at their expense? Instead of breaking school systems, let’s level the playing ground before comparing results and providing the funds to fix them. It is no coincidence that the lowest socio-economic areas have the lowest scores. That correlation was shown long ago. Do something to help, not make it worse.

And finally, if our political system is not working, instead of redistricting to the point of restricting democracy, let’s fix that using democracy. We can use what little power we still have — the right to vote — to fix our messy nation rather than breaking it further.

Fix it, don’t break it. It’s an important lesson — and not just for me.