In the comments, Keto from Colorblind Society responds to my last
post on immigration:
I agree that the dems also
have a nativist contingent. The difference is that their core
strategy (at the national level, at least) does not rest of fomenting
this element and related racial resentment… The repubs are their
own worse enemy, in this case.
Believe me, I’m not
trying to whitewash GOP instincts for race-bound xenophobia. The
House immigration bill is red meat for the base and a screw-you
message to people who are simply trying to do what the politicians’
forefathers did. And I think they’re shooting their Party in the foot
on this one.
But maybe what I was trying to get at is
illustrated by Mike Capuano’s appearance tonight on Greater
Boston. When asked what he thought about the House bill, he
responded that he voted against because it was concerned that it was
merely punitive but that if punitive measures - including a wall -
were included in a more comprehensive measure, he’d be for it. A
wall… and Capuano’s a fairly reliable liberal representative! I
think this perfectly incapsulates the Democratic Party’s tendency.
Their social liberalism eschews the GOP’s punitive mentality (this
cuts across so many issues) and leads them to argue for loosening up
punishment (i.e. have less harsh asylum policy and deportation
procedure), but ultimately they’re not in favor of open borders or
anything approaching economic liberalism. In fact, for all its
problems, Bush’s reform plans on this matter seem as liberal than
Capuano’s, if not more.
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