The immigration law in Arizona is a conundrum for me. We shouldn't fool ourselves into believing this doesn't energize the left and hurt our chances to remove deficit busting Obamacare loving Democrats in the fall. As I said yesterday, the law itself is fairly mild; but the political repercussions are large. This is particularly true because I strongly believe that Latino voters could easily be split away from the Democrats, not least because Democrat policies are resulting in their children getting pathetic education.
Since the federal government won't enforce the law and the steady trek of illegals through the backyards of Arizona residences seems likely to continue unabated; I am sympathetic to a law that merely reiterates the federal law. But at the same time, Republicans have refused to put forth an agenda to tackle this issue. Once again, we can blame Bush, who had an opportunity but failed. However, we need some kind of solution to dispel the notion that mere border enforcement is an adequate cure.
At the same time we need to push back on the notion that this law is somehow an example of racism run amok. It is not. It is very important that the state of Arizona make clear the manner in which they intend to enforce the law.
But I think that the energy this brings, especially the energizing of identity politics, hurts the GOP in the long run. I think the only silver lining is the foolish overreaction on the left; like boycotting Arizona Tea (bottled in New York), San Francisco banning city workers from traveling to AZ (who cares) and an Arizona congressman who calls for a boycott of his own state (only some serious gerrymandering can keep him in office.)
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I definitely get where you are coming from. This is one of those hard pills we had to swallow at some point...might as well be now when unemployment is down and the Dems are hurting. We have a better chance of bouncing back in this climate than in an economic boom. And I do very, very much believe the Amnesty crowd is going to hurt themselves with overreacting to all this. The Mexican flags and threats of violence will be trotted out, despite the best efforts of more seasoned activists to control the message. It is going to be a fine line for all of us to walk.
ReplyDeleteOur goal is to ride this out with shows of positive support for Arizona businesses and REAL immigration reform and strong border security. No plans to counter protest the May Day events or get in anyone's faces. Reasonable wins the day...and we have a long summer to show consistency.
Sheriff Arpio has long been enforcing immigration law, and he has done it in a way that does not violate civil rights. I expect Arizona police departments will follow suit and develop careful policy and procedure.
Our biggest problem is that I see a tidal wave of undocumented families rushing our of AZ and over to Cali in all this...bad news for our already upside-down budget.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteGood points all. But don't you think the people of Arizona have thought this through and figured they need to enforce the law? They are on the front line of human trafficking, drug running and kidnapping.
Arizona ice-Ts for all! Next vacation: Arizona. (I know, I know, Ice tea brewed in New York) but what the heck, let's get on board.
If we don't, the next step is secession. I'd like to see some movement in that direction
Road Dawg,
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm not on my game today...I didn't mean to sound like I am unsupportive of the AZ law. Quite the opposite...I think it was necessary. As a native Arizonan, I'm proud of the courage the state is showing on the issue. And I hope other states follow suit. I'm just acknowledging the fact that as supporters, we have to take care with how we rally around Arizona. Showing positive support vs. having counter demonstrations on May 1st, etc. We want to stand behind real and useful efforts to improve the immigration and naturalization process. It is going to be a long summer of being called racists, and we have to be smart about towing the line of law and reason.