The Bad Vibe Of Amnesty Bill

NRO's Stanley Kurtz has a bad vibe about the immigration bill and I can't say I blame him. Something

about this immigration battle doesn’t sit well. For all the bitterness of our political battles, there’s at least the sense that the government responds to the drift of public opinion. The Republicans in Congress turned into big spenders and the war in Iraq went poorly. As a result the Democrats prospered in 2006, if narrowly. That’s how democracy works. Our politics are often angry and ugly (and that’s a problem), but this is because the public is deeply divided on issues of great importance. Deep down, we understand that our political problems reflect our own divisions.

Somehow this immigration battle feels different. The bill is wildly unpopular, yet it’s close to passing. The contrast with the high-school textbook version of democracy is not only glaring and maddening, it’s downright embarrassing. Usually, even when we’re at each others’ throats, there’s still an underlying pride in the democratic process. This immigration battle strips us of even that pride.

Any serious student of Congress quickly learns that the high civics book description of the legislative process is incomplete. But most of the differences are based upon procedures and pesonalities. For example, if you are in the minority, your chances of getting a bill passed into law depend greatly upon whether you can get an important chairman on your side. The bill still goes through the committee process, but the wheels grind more smoothly if you have help.

But what I think is bothering people about the immigration bill is not just the content of the bill (which offends a great many people--citizens and immigrants alike), but the manner in which the normal rules of consideration have been flouted. The disdain for procedure should provoke men like Sen. Mitch McConnell and Robert Byrd, institutionalists to the core, to stand up and rail against the liberties taken with this bill.

The whole nasty taste of the procedures and the substance of the bill have some similarities--both will reward the blatant flouting of the rules. The immigration bill, amnest bill, will reward the illegal immigrants to ignored our laws an invaded our country--giving them amnesty because some members of the Senate want to be viewed as "good guys." At the same time, the backroom deal and bypassing of the committee process in the Senate means that the sponsors of this monstrosity will be rewarded for ignoring the very rules of procedure they claim in other instances to cherish.

Rules, immigration and Senate are there for a reason and shouldn't be ingorned for economic or polical expendience.