What The Elite Wants....

I'm not one of those who take poll results very seriously. A lot of the "scientific polling findings" depend very much on how the question is phrased, where in the questionnaire the question is placed, etc. And all of these choices are open to manipulation by the poll takers. Having said that, this is the latest on the immigration bill:

Public support for the Senate immigration reform bill has slipped a bit over the past week. A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Monday and Tuesday night found that just 23% of voters now support the bill while 50% are opposed. Last week, 26% supported the Senate bill while 48% were opposed.

In the face of public opposition, some supporters of the legislation have argued that the compromise may not be perfect but doing something is better than doing nothing. Voters have a different view--a solid plurality believes it would be better for the country to pass no bill at this time rather than letting the Senate compromise become law.

Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters prefer no bill over the Senate bill. Just 32% prefer the legislative compromise over inaction.

More than a few people have asked me what I think will happen. I don't have a crystal ball, so my guess is worth just as much as anybody else's. But having seen the immigration debate unfold over the years, I would not be surprised if something like what's currently before the Senate eventually gets enacted.

A big chunk of the "elite" wants something like this bill, and they want it badly--the polls be damned. And debate is curtailed in the simplest way possible: Anyone in their way will be insinuated to be (or sometimes even explicitly called) a racist or a xenophobe.

Bush was eager to step up to the plate in 2001 and represent those interests by putting forward "the" plan, but 9/11 stopped him. He waited a while, and put it forward again in 2004. Didn't get anywhere then either. And he has been trying ever since. In fact, the fundamentals of the plan now being discussed are quite similar to the details that Bush and Mexican President Fox talked about in those halcyon days of Summer, 2001.

Maybe I'm not that savvy in how the political system works. But if I were a betting man (which I'm not), I wouldn't bet against the possibility of seeing an amnesty or guest worker program sometime soon. These kinds of things have a way of sneaking through the system.

Comments

[dissent]

I agree with you. Look at the difficulties facing working Americans: declining health care benefits, job insecurity, wage pressure, etc. There is a lot of angst, for good reason. So what does Congress work on? Immigration. Purely a ploy to get campaign cash. It's disgusting.