So, I lied. I forgot that there was something I wanted to post about this week: the immigration question. Of course, it’s not that much of a question. Immigration will happen, the question is how much control will we exert over it, and also how much should we.
If you’re just tuning in (to LIFE) then you may not have heard much about it. You can read about some of the recent immigration rallies here and here. It may help to keep in mind that similar rallies, with varying, but most very large, attendance were held around the country in many different cities.
First, a caveat. I’m in no way any expert on immigration, but this just how things seem to me. Otherwise, I’m open to dissenting views that can backed up with good arguments.
Generally, I’m fully on the side of the pro-immigration forces. I think our current immigration policy is a humanitarian disaster, it does very little to maintain our border security, and it does absolutely nothing to address the underlying economic forces that are driving people to come into the country illegally.
One of the most interesting things about immigration reform is that it shows very clearly the divisions of the ruling Republican coalition. Republicans are able to be famously disciplined because, at their core, they are currently really made up of only a few primary groups: the Evangelical (mostly) Protestant Christian conservatives; the laissez-faire capitalist corporatists; and what might be called the “realistic” Libertarians (i.e. those that vote tactically for Republican because of their general agreement on economic issues).
It has the potential to be for Republicans what abortion was for Democrats.
Many of the conservative Christians in the Republican base are what might be called “social” capitalists. They promote capitalism substantively to the extent that it goes along with the rest of their agenda, but it is not a central component of their philosophy. And this is why large numbers of Republicans oppose immigration reform that would begin to address the actual problems. The idea of letting large numbers of aliens into the country makes them nervous; deep down they are somewhat xenophobic (save America for Americans).
Pure capitalists, or capitalist hawks, on the other hand prefer that if anything be done, just enough is changed so that they can maintain an ultra-cheap labor pool. Preferably change comes in such a way that business men don’t have to skirt the law anymore (not that they would stop if change doesn’t).
Democrats are not isolated from the currents that pull Republicans apart on this. Unions, for instance, are usually more like to align along protectionist lines. Up to now, new immigrants have been reluctant to organize at least partially because many are here illegally. Unions certainly don’t see any benefit to helping them along. I’ll argue later that there could be.
By contrast, classic liberals and liberal Christians are likely to focus on the humanitarian concerns in criminalizing behavior that’s clearly driven out of powerful economic realities.
These, then, are our primary players.
This will be part of a series. Otherwise things get out of hand with the time involved. Stay tuned!
Posted in Politics, Writing, law / crime, society
