64-35. Tom Tancredo — watching the proceedings from behind razor-wire twisted around his TV on the off chance a Jennifer Lopez movie slips through his hate filter — just threw up a little bit in his mouth.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it tasted a teensy<\/em> bit like refried beans.<\/p>\n Here’s Stanley Kurtz<\/a>, speaking, in the runup to the vote, on behalf of those redneck bigots who oppose this “reform” bill simply because they despise the whole concept of the pinata — and find the sombrero an affront to western Christian sensibilities. Either that, or they just like them some big fences to keep the fruitpickers out of their backyards:<\/p>\n Something about this immigration battle doesn\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t sit well. For all the bitterness of our political battles, there\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s 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\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s how democracy works. Our politics are often angry and ugly (and that\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s 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.<\/p>\n Somehow this immigration battle feels different. The bill is wildly unpopular, yet it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s close to passing. The contrast with the high-school textbook version of democracy is not only glaring and maddening, it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s downright embarrassing. Usually, even when we\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re at each others\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 throats, there\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s still an underlying pride in the democratic process. This immigration battle strips us of even that pride.<\/p>\n I\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2m 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\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153on 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\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re going to pay a steep price for setting the fundamentals aside.<\/p>\n Senators who believe that by passing this bill they will at least be getting a divisive issue out of the way are making a serious mistake. This is not 1986. The immigration issue is far more prominent now, and it will only grow in importance. Demographics, and the problems of assimilation in a globalized world of satellite dishes and easy travel will see to that. Look at how votes on the war have come back to haunt Democratic politicians. Votes by legislators of both parties on this bill will be haunting them\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153and all of us\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u20ac\u0153for years to come. You can\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t solve an argument by imposing a “compromise” on parties who don\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t actually view it as a compromise. You can\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2t heal social divisions by forcing your version of a “solution” down the public\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s throats. Real healing comes only when two sides reach what they themselves consider a valid compromise, or when one side wins the argument by persuading a clear majority of the validity of its case. Democracy does work, but first the Senate has got to give it a try.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is, to put the best face on it, the kind of consensus governing, by the Senate, that we see in the “enlightened” halls of western European power.<\/p>\n To put the worst face on it, it was a travesty of the democratic process — and, as Allah intimates, a textbook example of form over content:<\/a><\/p>\n Everyone understand what\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s going on here? They\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re so eager to pass this piece of shinola, they\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re adding provisions that will make it less likely<\/em> that the bill will actually work just to get the votes needed to pass it. They\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2re trading practical<\/em> viability for legislative<\/em> viability.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hopefully the House senses the heat coming from opponents of this “reform” intiative and breaks out in a vigorous sweat.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>
\nSupporters of this bill sell it as a compromise that will heal America\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s divisions. I fear it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s quite the reverse. This bill is infuriating the public and undermining faith in government itself. You can see it in the polling on confidence in Congress and the President. If this bill passes, it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s going to aggravate and embitter politics for years to come. Passing a measure over such overwhelming opposition is like slapping the public in the face.<\/p>\n