A real wall emergency

Two days ago, President Donald Trump announced he would declare the situation at the border to be a national emergency to enable him to move previously allocated money to fund a border wall. This was a long-telegraphed punch that had already sent leftists and some Republicans clutching their pearls since the idea was first floated weeks ago. Lost in all of this is the fact that this action, while taken by the president, is 100 percent the fault of Congress.
I have to say at the outset, I want a wall built where a wall is needed. I don’t claim to have the expertise on where those places are, but the people who have the job of protecting this country do and they have spoken. Our elected politicians, particularly Democrats, would rather play identity politics and appeal to their radical base than protect our country. It’s disgraceful.
That said, I’m not a fan of the declaration of the national emergency. It’s not that I don’t think hundreds of thousands of un-screened illegal aliens and millions of pounds of drugs flowing across the border constitutes an emergency, it clearly does. It’s that I don’t like the idea of a president, any president, being able to subvert the will of legislative branch.
Yes, half the legislative branch is currently in the hands of people uninterested in their constitutional duties, but they didn’t seize power, they were elected because the people they defeated didn’t do the things they promised they’d do. Actions have consequences.

But consequences and horrible people do not override the Constitution. I opposed it when Barack Obama created laws with his magic pen not because I thought DACA was bad (which I do), but because it was an unconstitutional action.
In this case, President Trump has some cover with the National Emergencies Act of 1976 which grants the President the ability to declare a national emergency and activate special powers to address that emergency.
The situation on the border is an emergency, no matter what Democrats say. One American killed by an illegal alien is an emergency, a completely avoidable tragedy they are content to ignore. The draw of identity politics is all they have, and it works. While combating that is crucial, violating the Constitution to do it shouldn’t be the pathway to do it.