Lets Make A Deal On Immigration - Road to the Middle Class

EVERYONE HAS had their say after President Bush’s so-so speech on Monday. Conservatives have groused and grumbled; the MSM has grunted approvingly. Dick Morris seems to think the speech was great, which is really troubling.

Now Tony Blankley comes along and says: OK fellahs. Don’t forget, politics is about compromise. Let’s not make the mistake of picking up our dollies and going to play in the corner. Let’s make a deal today, and come back for more later if we need to.

[W]hen in negotiations, if he with whom you are negotiating is moving in your direction, don't walk out of the room. As a final proposition: In politics, as in life, you can't always get what you want, but sometimes you can get what you need

For those that believe that the central issue is a secure border, the fact is that President Bush “has moved measurably, but insufficiently, toward that position.” Now let’s capitalize on that movement and nail down a deal.

Ultimately, we need to control illegal immigration. We can and we should allow a strong flow of immigrants into the country, but let us be clear. Immigrants compete with the American working poor. And, echoing what Charles Murray said twenty years ago in Losing Ground, it is unjust to make patsies out of the working poor by favoring illegals and wasters over the hard, not very rewarding life of the lower middle-class striver. That is what was wrong with the War on Poverty, and that is what is wrong with turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants and workers.

There is a feeling of a sea change happening in conservative politics right now, a sense that we are moving on from the Reagan-Bush years. But let us nail down the best compromise we can get on immigratioin while we still can.

After November, we may have to deal with a Democratic Senate or Congress, and we know where they stand: Immigrants equals votes, and forget about the American people.

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

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