No new symbol of our nation needed

Please urge Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst to resist the president's demands for a border wall. There's no shortage of good arguments against it: it will be costly; experts agree it is not the best way to control border traffic; and, as parents and teachers know, it is never wise to give in to a child throwing a tantrum.

I believe the strongest reason against Trump's wall is what it says about the United States and its guiding principles. If we erect that wall, it will say to the world that we no longer admit people who don't look like us, sound like us, or have exactly the same culture as we do. In everything short of words, it says we believe that we are the superior race, and the guardians and defenders of Western Civilization.

We already have a lofty symbol of our nation and its principles. It's called the Statue of Liberty. We often have fallen short of its poetic pledge to welcome the poor, the hungry, the struggling masses yearning to breathe free, but it remains the ideal that we strive for. And that ideal has made us the country that we are, with people from all over the world who have added their heritage to the United States and, in that process, enriched us all.

Kathleen J. Hall

Cedar Rapids