Something (Bad) Happening Here
Stanley Kurtz over at NRO points out the bad vibration coming from the Senate immigration "reform" bill that has reared its ugly head again. Something isn't working.
Something about this immigration battle doesn’t sit well. For all the bitterness of our political battles, there’s at least the sense that the government responds to the drift of public opinion. The Republicans in Congress turned into big spenders and the war in Iraq went poorly. As a result the Democrats prospered in 2006, if narrowly. That’s how democracy works. Our politics are often angry and ugly (and that’s a problem), but this is because the public is deeply divided on issues of great importance. Deep down, we understand that our political problems reflect our own divisions.
Somehow this immigration battle feels different. The bill is wildly unpopular, yet it’s close to passing. The contrast with the high-school textbook version of democracy is not only glaring and maddening, it’s downright embarrassing. Usually, even when we’re at each others’ throats, there’s still an underlying pride in the democratic process. This immigration battle strips us of even that pride.
I’m still stuck on the way this bill was going to be pushed through without a public airing of crucial provisions, in the two or three days before Memorial Day recess. But I should be stuck even further back–on the way this bill was cooked up in a backroom deal that bypassed the ordinary process of public hearings. We take them for granted, but those civics textbook fundamentals are there for a reason. We’re going to pay a steep price for setting the fundamentals aside.
Kurtz is right. This thing stinks of a smoke-filled back room deal. There is a crisis of confidence in the Congress in general and passage of this bill will deepen that. I'm one of the people who happen to believe that the whole situation can be solved if they fix the border first. But I don't think this bill does that and I don't think it's good for the country. Kurtz is right: this bill has a bad feeling to it.
Bad Ideas, Immigration Reform | Gaius Tuesday, 26 June , 2007
By Rustmeister, Tuesday, 26 June , 2007 @ 12:56 pm
Just another case of our elected officials doing what’s best for us, the unwashed masses.
We couldn’t possibly comprehend what that bill means anyway, could we?
I say we start a “vote the bums out” movement ASAP.
By feeblemind, Tuesday, 26 June , 2007 @ 7:25 pm
Too bad some one doesn’t offer an amendment that no provision of this Immigratiomn Bill can go into effect until a fence is erected and the border is secured. Be interesting to see how the senators would vote on such an ammendment. Yeah yeah, I know. Reid would never allow it to even be proposed, much less voted on. And no one in the Senate has the testicular fortitude to propose it anyway.
By Purple Avenger, Tuesday, 26 June , 2007 @ 8:05 pm
There’s BIG MONEY behind this behavior. They’re hoping we forget about the betrayal by the next election. I don’t think that’s going to be the case.
By Quilly Mammoth, Wednesday, 27 June , 2007 @ 11:43 am
These bozos are going to cause the creation of a new political movement that has one central tenant…Throw The Bums Out.
The TTBO Party would vote against any politician linked to this bill or to Pork.