One of the reasons why I'm not a politician, despite a nearly life-long interest in politics, is that I would only seek elected office to do the right thing (or things, since, as far as I'm concerned, there are quite a few that need doing). And, sadly, most politicians don't function that way. They read polls, and then do the popular thing. Sometimes that intersects with the right thing but, often, it doesn't.
On the other hand, what are we to do with politicians who will not act on what is both popular and right? Especially if there are 11 to 12 million of us living in a country we love, even though we don't have the papers to prove it?
That, I'm afraid , is where we appear to be today on the question of immigration.
According to polls, a majority of Americans want an immigration reform bill that includes a path to legalization, and even citizenship, for the undocumented, even in the case of likely voters in Republican-leading swing districts in the House of Representatives. You would think that this would be something that John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives (as well as the leader of the majority caucus), would want to address as promptly as possible, even if for no other reason than for the sake of keeping his current job.
But Republican politics stopped functioning logically a while ago. As it turns out, there is no Republican majority--or, perhaps, even a Republican Party anymore--unless a tiny minority of yahoos show up in great numbers to vote. The Reagan majority of yore has become a collection of factions that cannot even agree on a budget, as we saw last month. Which is why the Speaker of the House--the whole House, mind you--is slow-walking to death an issue of importance not only to the majority of the American people, but to the long-term survival of his own political majority.
So, to the question recently raised by the Baltimore Sun, the answer is no. And the reason that immigration reform is not politically expedient for Republicans is as ugly as it is persistent, throughout our history up through the present day. Of course, it's never framed that way. It's always framed as a willingness to accept "legal" immigrants, as opposed to "illegal" ones. This despite the fact that one reason we have so many "illegal" immigrants is because "legal" immigration isn't working for so many. Take a look at one highly representative example, one that points ups a major problem with the current system--its tendency to divide families between or even among countries.
We live in a shrinking world, one in which cultural and economic needs demand greater global mobility then ever before. The demographics of our society reflect this reality, whether the yahoos in the Republican Party like it or not. John Boehner and his factionalized "majority" ignore that reality at their political peril--and at the peril of our nation's ability to compete in a global marketplace, and renew itself internally as well. If it takes another election to make that point, so be it. The harder you push against the inevitable, the more you destroy any chance you might have of benefiting from it.
In politics, as in physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I suspect that, in 2014, Boehner and his extremely right colleagues will learn that the hard way.
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