The Democratic Party is Lost

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.
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