"I can't take another heartache.
Though you say you're my friend, I'm at my wits end.
You say your love is bona fide, but that don't coincide
With the things that you do, and when I ask you to be nice, you say:
Though you say you're my friend, I'm at my wits end.
You say your love is bona fide, but that don't coincide
With the things that you do, and when I ask you to be nice, you say:
‘You got to be cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very, very good sign,
Cruel to be kind, it means that I love you.’”
Nick Lowe, 1979 hit single
Democrats hate being cruel.
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| Click: An early music video |
It is why Trump might get re-elected on the back of the immigration issue.
Liberals have deep set moral virtues: fairness and avoiding cruelty. It is wrong to be unfair and it is wrong to be cruel.
Conservatives share those moral virtues, but add some: respect for authority, avoidance of the disgusting and impure, and integrity and solidarity of the group. Jonathan Haidt outlines the distinction between liberals and conservatives in his 2012 book The Righteous Mind.
Conservatives are more comfortable with Trump's authoritarianism than are Democrats, and they are more comfortable with closing ranks around the "we" against outsiders.
Haidt predicted Trump and the immigration issue. Trump wants a wall. Democrats say it is unnecessary. Trump's base wants to protect the home team from dangerous outsiders. Democrats don't want to be cruel to asylum seekers and people fleeing poverty.
Trump hit a nerve that Democrats were not well tuned into.
Conservatives are more comfortable with Trump's authoritarianism than are Democrats, and they are more comfortable with closing ranks around the "we" against outsiders.
Haidt predicted Trump and the immigration issue. Trump wants a wall. Democrats say it is unnecessary. Trump's base wants to protect the home team from dangerous outsiders. Democrats don't want to be cruel to asylum seekers and people fleeing poverty.
Trump hit a nerve that Democrats were not well tuned into.
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| Click: Roll Call |
Democrats are presenting a message to the public that the immigration issue is primarily about cruelty, and they are against it, of course. It is cruel to say "no" to people. It is cruel to deny entry into the US job market, it is cruel to.
be skeptical of the claims of violent conditions
at home, it is cruel to exclude people. It doesn't feel fair.
Unfairness and cruelty: the two Democratic sins.
be skeptical of the claims of violent conditions
at home, it is cruel to exclude people. It doesn't feel fair.
Unfairness and cruelty: the two Democratic sins.
They know what they don't like but are muddled over who they would they deny entry to, other than convicted felons.
Would they say "no" to anybody?
There are two problems with the current Democratic message. The first is that it ignores the instincts and emotions of a great many of their fellow Americans, people whose sense of right and wrong tells them that we should take care of Americans first, and that our obligation is first to us, not to strangers. They don't perceive this as a selfish act. They perceive it as a moral act: doing ones duty to ones own team, acting loyally. And outsiders are, in fact, different if nothing else. They might be dangerous and they would certainly change things by being here, maybe for the better but maybe for the worse.
The Democratic immigration message comes across as tone deaf, clueless, and out of touch with these emotions.
The Democratic immigration message comes across as tone deaf, clueless, and out of touch with these emotions.
The second problem is that breaks the Democrats' own brand. Democrats are the party comfortable with regulation. Democrats are happy to regulate banks, businesses, polluters, campaign finance, guns, zoning. The typical Democratic message is that some activities--particularly ones that might hurt other people--need to be regulated so that we all can get along. Democrats understand that rules mean saying "no."
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| Click for the article |
Democrats understand it is for the greater public good, so it is actually kind.
Except on immigration.
On immigration, the Democratic message focuses on the cruelty of saying "no" to a person who wants to come to America for some good reason of their own.
I am pro-immigrant.
But the cost of a pro-immigration policy in America is that it be regulated in a manner that assures the public that the interests of Americans who are here now are being protected. Democrats cannot apologize for rules. They need to embrace them and communicate that they actively support them, for the greater good.
Without clear rules and a message of enforcement, Democrats let Trump communicate that he will do what Democrats will not do: defend Americans.
Immigration is a good thing and regulation is a price worth paying.
But the cost of a pro-immigration policy in America is that it be regulated in a manner that assures the public that the interests of Americans who are here now are being protected. Democrats cannot apologize for rules. They need to embrace them and communicate that they actively support them, for the greater good.
Without clear rules and a message of enforcement, Democrats let Trump communicate that he will do what Democrats will not do: defend Americans.
Immigration is a good thing and regulation is a price worth paying.
3 comments:
Good article, and it's objective.
Republicans and conservatives don't hate immigration. However, it needs to be regulated so that those who enter America have been vetted, and society can absorb them in an orderly fashion (so that they can assimilate). America can't handle unregulated immigration, with millions of illegals crossing the southern border annually. Most illegals become welfare cases, and we can't afford them, in addition to the impoverish Americans already living in this country legally. They will sink the ship. Our natural resources are being overtaxed (water), our roads and public utilities are being overtaxed, and our schools are being overtaxed by illegal aliens. Illegal aliens use a disproportionate amount of public services, and they don't pay their fair share in taxes to cover the services they use. Those who support open borders are telling Americans that they come-in second place behind illegals, and their needs are irrelevant. Nationalism means that you put Americans (of every color) and their needs first. I'd much rather provide financial support for a poor black person from Mississippi, than to an illegal alien from eastern Europe. This isn't a racial issue. It's about Nationalism, and whose interests are placed first. America already allows more legal immigration than any other country in the world.
Let us hear no more of "rules".
It's specious to dither about who gets what in America, when this society has been accepting migrant workers with little or no concern for at least 100 years. Drive through the central valley and look at the shacks right by the freeway, or in the orchards in the PNW.
It's an issue now because it can be used to pander to racists, the same way Regressives pander to religious extremists, with a wink and a nod to the thousands of employers who benefit from cheap, exploitive labor.
Now political and economic conditions in Central America and elsewhere are forcing families to flee for their own and their children's lives. It's not only immoral but shows a lack of imagination to ignore this reality, for which we are culpable.
This should be Democrat's message, otherwise we are headed for Secretary of State Ann Coulter.
Here's an idea: why don't we stop sanctioning, boycotting and intimidating social democracies in Central and South America that creates the diaspora? Peter rightly points out the failure of Democrats to promote a plan that provides a logical and fair path to citizenship. That failure contributes to the perception that Democrats don't care about borders at all and would favor one-world government...neoliberal economic policy dovetails with this as a handful of multi-national corporations consolidate world power.
Andy Seles
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