You have different fingers. So sayeth Steven Wright. I've always loved that one. Apropos of that, I have been trying to think more positively lately, you know, be more optimistic. So I've spent the morning not fuming as you might imagine, but looking for the upside of the failure of immigration reform. It wasn't a great bill, for one thing. It was more that an attempt at comprehensive reform seemed so positive than that the actual bill was so terrific. Now that that's dead in the water, where to look for good news? How about the Grand Old Party?
Immigration reform could be the flame that ignites that powder keg. You have a bunch of plutocrats who spend gazillions to place their people in positions of power. (A lot of alliteration for a blustery blogger.) They did not just with money, but by pandering to a populous group with whom they have not much in common. Yes, onward Christian voters, toward the polls. They elected politicians who got them all wrought up about abortion, taxes, fereigners, and those dirty, dirty gays. But the men with the money don't really care about all that stuff. They care about money and business as usual. Guess what? Business as usual relies heavily on those funny-talkin' brown folks flooding over the borders.
Unfortunately, for either the money men or the voters-on-the-street, the great game of chicken is on. The pols whipped up their base a little too well on immigration, and unless the money men can arrange some mass gay marriages to mobilize the rabble, that right-wing base is going to be looking for a serious anti-immigrant platform in the next big election. Who's going to pay for that? Will the angry red voters realize that Bush and his cronies have done nothing for them, because all they needed was votes? Or will the pandering go so far that the Republican pols can't go to the really deep pockets for succor? Stay tuned.
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