On Security

There is an absurdity about driving into a vast openness to inspect three- and four-mile sections of river and believing it has anything to do with Security with that big S. Is this fence — really a wall, up to 18 feet high and 150 feet fat with “tactical infrastructure” of roads, floodlights, radar, and who-knows-what — really a matter of the much-bandied-about National Security? Could we be witnessing a phenomenal moment of discussion that is more about our national identity? Could we be experiencing a moment of panicked transference, while so little seems under our national control?