The Democratic Party is Lost

With each passing day it is becoming more clear that the Democratic Party, under the guidance and leadership of Senator Chuck Schumer, really has no idea what it's doing. They have no coherent message.  They have no clear definable goals or policy positions. It is uncertain what they stand for or what they are fighting for. This has never been more disturbingly evident than with the current immigration standoff. 

Side stepping the government shutdown blame game, it is inarguable that the Democrats contributed to and embraced a government shutdown in order to use it as a bargaining chip to extract DACA protections and domestic spending concessions. Before the shutdown, Republicans offered a short term continuing resolution to fund the government along with funding for the ‘Children’s Health Insurance Program’ (CHIP). After a couple of days in shutdown, the Democrats agreed to vote for essentially the exact same deal they could have accepted on Friday. Not only that, Schumer tipped his hand and already offered to fund Trump’s border wall. Schumer has since walked back his offer, but it’s too late. Trump already knows that he can extract huge concessions from Schumer for peanuts and that any future government shutdown will be another obvious bluff attempt by the Democrats. If the Democrats lacked the fortitude to shutdown the government until Republican concessions were made, they should have never done it in the first place. They showed their cards and they are now left with a losing hand.

There is an abundance of reasons to doubt the sincerity of the Democratic Party’s desire to protect the human beings often referred to as “DACA recipients” or their parents just as “illegal immigrants”. I, like many of you, follow Democratic Party politics daily and I cannot tell you in a few sentences what the Democratic Party position is on immigration. I do know that it is some technocratic jargon that offers no prospect for hope, because the true intent of their position is political. It is to sanctimoniously claim that they hold the morally superior policy position when truly, they are one degree removed from the Republican Party and the lack the courage to go any further. 

This morning Senator Schumer tweeted his support for “Dreamers”

To say allowing Dreamers to become Americans is "amnesty" is nasty; protecting Dreamers is our moral obligation. The eyes of America are on us to help them, and we must get the job done.

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) January 24, 2018

DACA recipients are only a small fraction of the total number of illegal immigrants. The Democratic immigration position is filled with inherent contradictions. The Democrats have decided to make a distinction between ‘good immigrants’ (Dreamers) and ‘bad immigrants’ who are just the parents of the “good immigrants’. If, according to Schumer’s tweet, you believe Dreamers have been trying "so hard" to become Americans, one could argue their parents worked just as hard, if not harder and sacrificed more. Why does the “moral obligation” only include people in  the age range of 25-40. Furthermore, why is “amnesty” a nasty word? Why do the Democrats accept the Republican framing of the issue? Once they have accepted the Republican framing of the issue they have already surrendered the fight. What they should be doing is offering a counter argument on amnesty. Study after study has shown that immigrants are a net positive for the economy and the funding of the government. Immigrants pay more into the system than they take out and they have played a key role in extending the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund. The DREAM act alone, if signed into law, would add $329 billion to the U.S. economy by 2030. Additionally, immigrants are less likely to commit a crime than natural born Americans. If the Democratic Party position was the "nasty" “amnesty”, the DREAM act may have already been signed as a compromised piece of legislation. Instead, the Republican’s move as far right as possible, the Democrats move to the center-right and the final compromise is going to be somewhere to the right of center-right.

There hasn’t been one practical or pragmatic argument made by a right wing immigration hawk for why we need to deport immigrants and destroy people’s lives. The entire purpose is to punish people who they have deemed committed a “crime”. A “crime” which adds $329 billion to the economy, extends the life of social security and adds hard working law-abiding good people to our nation. The punishment of these people is pure sadism and pure racism.

If the Democratic Party lacks the courage to stand up to a Republican policy that is sadistic, racist, terrorizes good human beings, takes $329 billion out of our economy and shortens the life of the Social Security trust fund, what would they stand up for?

Support a comprise that grants a pathway to citizenship to ALL undocumented immigrants in the United States while granting Trump his prized trophy border wall.