Democrats let a problem get out of hand.
 |
| People crossed the southern border and were released. It caused problems. |
People were so frustrated that they voted for a tax-cheating, sexual predator felon who attempted to overthrow an election to stay in power rather than voting for a Democrat who was tied to past neglect.
Voters are still angry enough that they tolerate a lawless, error-ridden, Constitution-busting process for addressing the immigration problem. Trump is screwing up everything else, but they are still okay with how Trump is handling removal of immigrants, the polls show.
Biden's various incapacities made it worse. His age, appearance, low energy and inarticulateness led the public to conclude that Biden didn't notice, didn't care, and was helpless to address a problem -- not until just before the election, when he woke up. Too late.
[Note: To get daily delivery of this blog to your email go to: https://petersage.substack.com/ Subscribe. Don't pay. The blog is free and always will be.]
I am an optimist. Democrats aren't stuck. The can fix this by getting right with the public. Admit that things got out of hand. Articulate policies that would allow immigration in quantities and in a manner that Americans want.
If there is a conflict between what is "right" and what is popular, the solution is not to complain that the public is selfish, stupid, racist, or otherwise deplorable. The solution is to sell. Get in the arena and explain what needs to be done, and do it with conviction. Selling is explaining with conviction.
The arc of history does not bend toward justice on its own. It bends because someone has the courage to make the case for sound policy. If we need five million new immigrants a year, and a system for evaluating asylum claims -- and I think we do -- then some Democrat needs to be up front saying so and becoming an alternative to Trump's own form of immigration control. His is haphazard and chaotic. Surely a Democrat can do better. Democrats don't need to wait for an election year to stand up and articulate solutions. Trump is showing us his way to deal with immigration, trade, and alliances. A Democrat -- or several of them -- should posit their own views. Don't leave Trump alone on the stage.
A Democrat who leads will be accused of speaking without proper authority -- speaking on behalf of his or her own authority as an American. Yes. That is what a leader does.
It looks good. It looks courageous. It looks presidential.
9 comments:
This is a politics vs. rational analysis issue. Rationally, immigration on the whole is beneficial. Generally, economists concluded that immigration was a substantial benefit in assisting the U.S. in coming out of the Covid caused downturn. The positive aspects of immigration, by documented and undocumented people, is demonstrable in many ways.
There is the issue of compassion, too. Many people want to help others avoid being tortured. Many see a benefit of allowing people to generally live a better life.
Democrats are more likely to be influenced by rational analysis and compassion than the other side. Immigration can easily be used demagogically, a trait for which Democrats are less well equipped, as well.
What you're asking is for Democrats to enthusiastically embrace a policy that is hard to believe in. Immigration is good, now, Democrats, go out and oppose it.
Just a reminder: During Trump's first term, Congress presented him with two bipartisan immigration bills that he refused to sign. His mismanagement of the pandemic resulted in countless thousands of deaths. He made no secret of his autocratic aspirations. He lied incessantly. Yet he received over 74 million votes in 2020. That is pretty deplorable.
The Democratic Party definitely needs a lot of work, but they aren't the ones dismantling our Democratic Republic.
If anything, Democrats let the optics at the border get out of hand. The virtual open-borders policy was fully by design, from the public invitations from then-candidate Biden to the false-faced assurances that the border was “secure” from Biden’s reptilian cabinet Secretary Mayorkas.
The reality is that most progressive Americans consider essentially unlimited economic migration to be a matter of geopolitical social justice, even reparations, from Bad America. A small fraction of asylum claims ultimately prove legitimate, at least under the longstanding definition.
Ask a Democratic politician to name the discrete categories of undocumented immigrants which should be barred and/or deported as a matter of course. It’s crickets. “Abolish ICE” and “Stop Deportations” are the signed refrain for many protesters. Democrats remain vulnerable here.
It isn't compassion to do something good and merciful and beneficial both to the immigrant and to the USA so poorly that people turn against it. The fact that the ultimate cause is morally right does not excuse the poor implementation. It makes the poor implementation tragic, indeed shameful. A good Oregon governor, Ted Kulogoski, put something very well at an event in my living room: He said that since Democrats are the party of government solutions, Democrats need to be good at doing government.
My impression of immigrants is shaped by pear pickers working along side of me. They were 5-10 times faster than me and I quickly concluded pear picking jobs were not for me. Those same hard working “Mexicans” would later go north and pick apples. Establishing work visas for these guys should have already been created, but the US just looked the other way for how many years?
The average American trusts less than half of what they see and read online, according to new research.
A survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that skepticism is at an all-time high when it comes to the internet.
According to the results, Americans believe only 41% of what they consume online is totally accurate, fact-based and created by a real human.
Trump campaigned on a promise of deporting 20 million people. He doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell, but his infamous xenophobia and police state tactics are sure to dissuade far more tourists than that from visiting the U.S.
It seems that Democrats have been too captured by their woke/liberal ideology to allow “oppressors” like (white) Americans to exclude "oppressed" (brown) people by actually enforcing our borders. It will be interesting to see if their recent comprehensive electoral defeat will be enough of a shock to get them to go against this ideology. I wouldn't bet on it...
Right. Just get out there and outsell the con man and everything is golden. It’s not possible to sell immigration as good, no matter how compassionate, beneficial or rational, because the biological instinct to exclude ‘others’ is hardwired.
Post a Comment