Why Conservatives Should Consider Agreeing to a Real Immigration Reform Bill, Pt. 1

Conservatives are not the only ones who oppose the Senate's massive and complex immigration bill. However, they are the most vocal and generally the best-informed because this issue really matters to them. In the House, and to a slightly lesser degree in the Senate, it is conservative Republicans who oppose the Senate bill.

In their concern about the immigration bill's specifics, conservatives mirror the views of ordinary Americans on the major issues that have been publically discussed. And they are probably in sync as well with the general public on issues that have not yet been more thoroughly discussed and understood.

These include the Senate bill's legalization first, future enforcement premise; its lack of real enforcement measures; its addition of many millions of new legal immigrants beyond those current illegal migrants who might gain legalization though the legislation; the reward of legalization being given to immigration law breakers without corresponding balance of real penalties; the stacking of the electoral deck by awarding citizenship to an estimated 11.7 million illegal migrants and unlimited numbers of those now awaiting green cards who are likely to vote disproportionally Democratic; and the large number of benefits for specific interest groups that the Senate draft committee dispensed behind closed doors.

This is a strong bill of oppositional particulars, and would take a very different piece of legislation than the one the Senate passed to merit support. Yet, if the basis for such a bill could be found, it would be worth supporting.

The basic reason for supporting a real immigration reform bill is because the lack of a real reform bill is helping to further poison the relationship between Americans and their government, eroding trust, the basis of civic life in a democracy. Immigration is not the only issue doing so, but it encapsulates almost all of them that are.

Being able to agree to real immigration reform would help to reverse this damaging development, and perhaps set this country in a new direction that revitalizes our government's commitment to the rule of law.

I understand that it is a wish, not a likelihood that underlies the suggestion, but the risk seems well worth taking, especially if the reform legislation is carefully crafted. Failure to try and act responsibly leaves the country in its present poisonous immigration predicament.

I also understand that the country has more immediately urgent problems. The economy is having a great deal of trouble finding firm expansionist ground and, as a result, many Americans are treading water economically or losing ground. Our education system is struggling to fulfill its primary purpose, which is to help members of the American community and their children develop the personal resources they will need to have a reasonable chance at living a satisfying and productive life. And our culture sometimes seems to be at war with our communities.

And these are only our domestic problems.

There is moreover, underlying all of these issues, a real and fundamental disagreement among Americans as to what they want the government to do and their views of whether the government is capable of doing it. It is not surprising that immigration differences are permeated by this more fundamental conflict.

One reason the country's immigration debates are central to what is dividing this country and what might provide the basis for arresting or reversing this damage is that they involve the country's most basic identity and cultural elements.

Next: Why Conservatives Should Consider Agreeing to a Real Immigration Reform Bill, Pt. 2