All along the border, lives have been changed by illegal immigration. That is why Congress, in one of its most far-sighted decisions in recent memory, approved the border fence on the 1,969-mile southern border of the United States. Every day this noble project extends its reach further to protect hard-working Americans.

The clearly inefficient border fence.

But no barrier is perfect. There have been long and storied histories of defensive walls, from China to Berlin, but history also shows us that people will find a way around even the most carefully constructed wall.

That brings us to Canada. When the southern border is closed, what is to stop terrorists, drug dealers and foreigners from coming in through our porous northern border?

There is only one solution. After we finish the border fence to the south, the next logical step in protecting our homeland is to build one on our northern border as well. While it is true that the northern border is about twice as long, building a fence there will cost no more than a few billion dollars. It also will stimulate the economy by providing jobs for people willing to do back-breaking manual labor for low wages, like Mexicans.

A wall on our Canadian border would provide many benefits. It would prevent Americans from driving north for sub-par health care and under-priced prescription drugs, and it would keep Canadian hooligans from crossing into border towns to attend hockey games. Most importantly, it would keep out more terrorists, drug dealers and foreigners.

As effective as walls on our northern and southern borders would be in keeping us safe, there exists an even longer border that we must find a way to close: America’s coastlines.

True, the Coast Guard patrols these waters, but it is woefully undermanned and underfunded for the task of defending the 6,053 miles of coastline, much of which provides easy access to America’s vulnerable interior.

If a wall works so well for the southern and northern border, why not extend it to the seas?

I have a solution. We should build a series of buoys stretching along the coast along the entire coastline of the United States. The buoys would be spaced out at intervals of 100 feet, and between them would be a wall section of lightweight composite materials. The three-mile distance allows for beach-going and fishing, but it provides an impassable barrier to anyone trying to approach our lands by sea.

The wall sections also would extend several feet below the surface so that no one could swim underneath it.

So there is a way to keep the land crossings secure and a plan for protecting approaches by sea. Now, many of you are saying that this is probably good enough, that you can go to sleep at night without fear of terrorists, drug dealers or foreigners. In 1908 that would have been true, but not today. September 11th reminded us all that our nation also can be reached by air.

Clearly, this is one situation where a wall simply would not work. It would be foolish to call for a solution that tried to create a barrier of that kind in something as vast as America’s skies.

That’s why a completely different kind of barrier is needed: a freedom dome. We have the material and the technology now to build a dome encompassing the entire surface of the United States. All that we lack is the will. The walls in place along the southern and northern borders and the water wall could form the foundation for extending the dome upward and over all of our precious lands.

The dome would be clear, of course, so all the environmentalists could watch the sun set. There would be specially located gates in the freedom dome so that military aircraft would be able to fly out. Commercial craft could use these openings as well, if need be.

Artist’s Conception of the Freedom Dome

There will certainly be some objections to the dome. Environmentalists will complain about disruption of nature. They forget that the dome not only would block foreigners but also the lesser threats of hurricanes and floods. Everyone must agree that this is disrupting nature in a good way. We could even regulate how much rain each area gets by opening and closing the gates in the dome at different times in the year. The gates would be patrolled by military aircraft, of course, in case anyone thought of exploiting them.

Some short-sighted people may complain about the cost of the wall. They need to realize that with current technology, building a dome over the entire United States will cost only half as much as the war in Iraq, and everyone knows that was a noble undertaking.

Economists will protest about the loss of jobs in industries that rely on immigrant labor, like fruit picking, construction and food service. However, they overlook one important source of cheap labor: graduate students. This could be an important opportunity for the pampered youth on their way to the ivory tower with their PhDs to learn something concrete about the way the world works. Graduate students in plant biology or agriculture could pick fruit. Engineering students could work construction, and nutritionists could spend time working in restaurants. This would solve both the labor shortage and give future intellectuals some much-needed perspective.

Some people have said that building a border fence is akin to tearing down the Statue of Liberty. This is completely ludicrous. The Statue of Liberty is one of our most important symbols, and it stands for all that is best about America. The lady holds aloft a torch, which is an ancient symbol for lighting your enemies on fire. She holds a tablet, similar to the stone tablet on which the Bill of Rights was recorded. When George Washington built the great monument, he intended for it to stand for all eternity. Tearing it down would be a national disgrace!

Although it is about time to get rid of that sappy poem at the bottom.