The perfect metaphor for nation's immigration and infrastructure policy mess is New York City's huge (and ancient) subway system.
It is seriously over-populated and equally seriously under-funded. The New York Times (no friend of immigration restriction) earlier this year ran some devastating photos of the 1930's technology that is supposed to keep the trains from running into each other.
Anyone who has had any experience with the subway system, particularly in the long rush hours, knows that there are too many people trying to use a nearly exhausted infrastructure, and most realize that the state's and the city's political leadership is unwilling to face the challenge of raising billions to keep the cars running and the riders safe.
Sound familiar? On a national scale, too?
My dream is that the nation's capital would move — maybe for just a year or two — back to where it was 230 years ago, to Manhattan, and that each member of Congress would be mandated to take the subway to work every day that he or she wanted to be paid.
In a twinkling of the eye, some, perhaps modest, reforms would limit immigration and moneys would be raised, perhaps by taxing the rich, to improve our nation's bridges, roads, and rail systems.
That's my dream.
The problem of course is that most of our decision-makers are personally protected from such realities — neither they nor their kids face lowering wages and disappearing jobs because of masses of unskilled immigrants and, as far as the infrastructure is concerned, well there are always those private jets.
And except for a few in the New York delegation, they are all shielded from the reality of that city's subways.