Minorities can move majorities.
A farm bill just got de-railed in the House of Representatives. It is all about immigration. Yes, immigration.
1. A majority of House members want immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for people brought to America as young children. These are the DACA kids. A majority of Americans support this action.
2. That majority would be bi-partisan, consisting of House Republicans and Democrats. Without a Democratic votes, there isn’t a majority.
3. House Republicans in competitive districts favor the bill. They fear being characterized as unrealistic and heartless, since some of these DACA kids have known no country other than the USA. Some DACA kids have served honorably in our military. It is a bad issue for Republicans in most Districts, so these Members want a deal.
4. The House members in the Freedom Caucus, representing bright red Districts, disagree. They say their own elections, and the presidential election, create a mandate by Americans to remove people who are here illegally. It isn’t “cruel.” It is obeying the law and the American people have spoken.
5. The Freedom Caucus wanted to send a message to Speaker Paul Ryan not to accommodate those nervous moderate Republicans who want to protect their seats by supporting a DACA bill.
6. The Freedom Caucus voted as a block to oppose the Farm Bill. The Farm Bill is important to rural Republican Members of Congress, since it provides price supports and other subsidies for farmers. Ryan and moderate Republicans got the message: give us what we want on immigration or you won’t get what you want on a Farm Bill.
7. Leverage. The Freedom Caucus minority can force a majority of the Congress to adopt a policy on immigration that pleases a minority of congressmen representing a minority of Americans. Minority rule.
Summary: it may well be smart politics, but it is the kind of maneuver that makes the job of being Speaker miserable. The Freedom Caucus believes it is carrying out the mandate of the 2016 election, even as it confounds majority opinion on an issue. It is how the system works, but it leaves a lot of people confused and frustrated. It is one of the reasons Americans give a 16% approval rating to Congress, and why a great many people have given up on politics and do not vote.
1 comment:
Though this is inferred it needs to be said straight out:
"They say their own elections, and the presidential election, create a mandate by Americans to remove people who are here illegally. It isn’t “cruel.” It is obeying the law and the American people have spoken."
Opposition to DACA is racist, pure and simple. Cowed lawmakers can dodge the issue one way or another but this is an inescapable fact. A by product of the Regressive resurgent backlash to the Obama presidency, this sudden worship of "the rule of law" and all the other nonsense emanating from racists and their representatives is simply a smokescreen.
The majority understand that DACA represents the traditional fairness of the American ideal. DACA is a law, like all just laws, that seeks to prevent the suffering of innocents.
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