June 28, 2013

New Republic: "Why Liberals Should Oppose the Immigration Bill"

Veteran Los Angeles-based liberal journalist T.A. Frank (who is, I just discovered, not the same person as veteran liberal journalist Thomas Frank, author of What's the Matter with Kansas) writes in The New Republic:
Why Liberals Should Oppose the Immigration Bill 
It's about low-wage American workers 
BY T.A. FRANK

The consensus among decent people in favor of the immigration bill making its way through Congress is so firm that expressing dissent feels a bit like taking the floor to suggest we chop down the Redwood National Park. People don’t want to hear it, and they also think you’re a nut. That makes this article one of the hardest I’ve ever had to write. It’s not that I’m afraid people will get angry; it’s that I can’t imagine anyone on my side (liberal) is open to persuasion. And, despite the vastness and complexity of the issue, I have to be brief: the Senate hopes to be done with things this week. 
Sometimes, though, you just have to embrace futility.

The country I want for myself and future Americans is one that’s prosperous, cohesive, harmonious, wealthy in land and resources per capita, nurturing of its skilled citizens, and, most important, protective of its unskilled citizens, who deserve as much any other Americans to live in dignity. This bill threatens to put all of that out of reach, because it fails to control illegal immigration. The problem is not that it provides 11 million people eventual amnesty (I don’t object to that, in theory); the problem is that it sets in motion the next waves of millions.  
That is not a fashionable concern, of course. Worrying about illegal immigration today is a lot like worrying about communists in government in 1950.  It’s not that the problem isn’t legitimate or serious (there actually were, we now know, a lot of Moscow loyalists working for the U.S. government). It’s that expressing your concurrence links you to a lot of demagogues and bad actors.  
Most of America’s college-educated elites are little affected by illegal immigration. In fact, it’s often a benefit to us in terms of childcare, household help, dinners out, and other staples of upper-middle-class life. Many therefore view the problem as akin, in severity, to marijuana use—common but benign, helpful to the immigrants and minimal in its effects on Americans or anyone else.  
I know, because it used to be my own view.

It's probably not a coincidence that this rare voice of liberal dissent comes from Los Angeles (as does Mickey Kaus's). We Angelenos live in America's future (except that when the future finally arrives in your part of America, you're not going to get Southern California-style weather to bask in or Hollywood-style starlets to ogle, so, lots of luck!).

But, Los Angeles tends to be a black hole of punditry. The NYC-DC axis that dominates opinion journalism doesn't have a clue what they are in for because, while there are more than a few smart people in Los Angeles, you can make far more money here off metaphor than off blunt analysis.

For example, here's a brief allegory from the local public radio station about Max Brooks, the author of the novel World War Z, and his father Mel tending the garden of Max's mother, the late Ann Bancroft:
Max doesn’t see himself giving up writing in favor of becoming an organic farmer, as much as he loves his work in the garden.  But he does now understand how his mother took joy in killing worms.  Then, he thought it was sadistic and wrong. “Now, I understand that sense of protection, when I see squirrels in Venice coming after my Japanese plum tree, if we lived in the country, you’d go in the pot as well,” he said. 
His father gets it too.  Now, the two bond over rat patrol at the compost bins on the side of the house.  Mel carries the stick, and Max carries the compost.  Being from New York makes scaring away the vermin a bit easier.

Sounds like Mayor Bloomberg's stop-and-frisk plan.

24 comments:

  1. WTF is he killing worms for and why did his mother kill them too? What kind of gardening is that FFS!? Its an abomination.

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  2. Max and Mel Brooks aren't really farmers by nature or nurture.

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  3. "If we are to have any hope of regaining any control over our own immigration policy—which is to say, our destiny as a nation—t"

    Really, are liberals now admitting that immigration is destiny?

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  4. i saw it passed the senate. what are the odds it will pass the house? from most sources it's being said it's not going to, but i have my doubts.

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  5. The only major benefit (there are dozens of tiny other ones)immigration come up with is the whole division of labor thing. But i wonder is there going to be enough jobs for these low IQ workers? The division of labor seems like it's limited by IQ. They make this kind of Julian Simon argument but it seems bunk to me.

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  6. It's probably not a coincidence that this rare voice of liberal dissent comes from Los Angeles.

    Ahhh. Our Scotch-Irish friend Whiskey lives there too. Even if he is a little misguided about the cause, he is still in the anti-immigrationist camp.

    Something is definitely wrong about LA, and you notice it more than anywhere else in the country (perhaps other than Detroit, though I haven't been there).

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  7. The workers at Caterpillar in Wisconsin are aware of what their future holds in terms of the amnesty bill and concurrent chain migration. They recently voted FOR a 6 year wage freeze and lower pay for the newly hired.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20130611-712947.html

    The U.S., which now has the worlds third largest population, is attempting to emulate China's massive population and extremely low wages.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population

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  8. The devil's advocate:

    1. Immigration is going to turn into more high-skill, this is already happening.
    The shift will not be dramatic, but gradual.

    2. These people have in many cases already been here for over 10, 15 years. By legalizing them, their wages will rise.

    They are already de facto undercutting the wages of Americans right now.

    3. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the graduation rates of hispanics has dramatically risen. Of all 18 year olds, 78% now graduate high school, up from 52% in 2000.

    Also, they enroll at college at higher rates than whites. The main difference is that it's more usually community colleges and such, but their share at enrollment at 4-year institutions is also rising.

    I know about the book about 5th generation Mexicans, but most of the progress has happened in the last 10 years, and especially since 2005.

    The counter-argument, of course, is that while all above points may be true, what difference does it make if illegal immigration doesn't stop.

    In brief, amnesty, which would only affect about half of the 11 million, wouldn't necessarily be detrimental. It's what happens to enforcement and everything I've seen suggests that enforcement isn't near what it should be.

    But on the other hand, the senate bill won't pass. It's dead. We will have to judge what comes out of the house, which is far more conservative. And Boehner isn't exactly a man who can strong-arm the reps into signing something they don't want. Also, do you think the Tea Party listens to the liberal media after all the smear campaigns?

    I used to think the hispanics were totally going the way blacks were but a look at the statistics says otherwise.

    I should caution that most of the progress concerns the younger generations. Their birth rates, for one, have dropped by over 30%, too. The brithrates for whites dropped by 8% in the recession period.

    Still, I'm not for open borders but I am saying, the picture is more nuanced than some of the rhetoric would suggest.

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  9. Don't think that it is only Los Angeles. Chicago's largest minority now are Mexicans. Many of Chicago's suburbs, especially the innner suburbs, also have a majority Mexican population.

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  10. " while there are more than a few smart people in Los Angeles".
    I think a few smart people is about as good as it gets in Los Angeles.

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  11. Killing rats is okay, but killing worms? That's counterproductive. Farmers and gardeners like worms, they help plants! Could that be a misquote for killing snails?

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  12. A comfortable majority of the responses to the article endorse it. I wonder if the distinction is not only between politicians and public but between the chatterati and their subscribers.

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  13. What kind of worms? Not earthworms, surely. Why would you kill earthworms? Does he mean, like, little caterpillars who eat the leaves of plants or something? Silkworms?

    I love this:

    "It’s not that the problem isn’t legitimate or serious (there actually were, we now know, a lot of Moscow loyalists working for the U.S. government). It’s that expressing your concurrence links you to a lot of demagogues and bad actors."

    And how do we know they were demagogues and bad actors? Why, because they were all hysterical about communists and illegal immigrants, that's how!

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  14. "That is not a fashionable concern, of course. Worrying about illegal immigration today is a lot like worrying about communists in government in 1950. It’s not that the problem isn’t legitimate or serious (there actually were, we now know, a lot of Moscow loyalists working for the U.S. government). It’s that expressing your concurrence links you to a lot of demagogues and bad actors."

    That's one if the biggest problems with leftists/liberals/progressives. They think they are the voices of reason and logic but actually pick their opinions based on what's fashionable and supported by the right sort of people. Ultimately their opinions rest on logical fallacies.

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  15. We're kidding ourselves if we think it's going to die in the House, I think. The climate of opinion is changing so fast.

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  16. "I know, because it used to be my own view."

    Same thing with me. I used to be an open-borders guy; now I'm almost the complete opposite.

    Immigration is probably the only issue I can think of where I changed my mind based purely on a close examination of the other side's arguments and a careful weighing of the evidence.

    Sailer actually played a big role in getting me to switch sides. The calm, affable way he does his thing was the spoonful of sugar I needed to swallow the bitter pill of admitting, "hey, you know, I was totally wrong about this."

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  17. Our host said: Max and Mel Brooks aren't really farmers by nature or nurture.

    Hunsdon said: There could be a great Green Acres remake in that, though.

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  18. An awful lot of harmful insect larvae have '-worm' in their names. Cutworms, webworms, etc. And even the ones that don't can easily be described as worms.

    I would expect that 'worm' is being used as an imprecise catch-all for various grublike organisms that harm crops.

    Don't overthink this, guys.

    Of course, if 'earthworms' were really what was being referred to, that's both hilariously stupid and profoundly disturbing.

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  19. Nevin? NOOOOOOOO

    Larry Niven wrote 'Lucifer's Hammer' with Jerry Pournelle.

    NIVEN RULES!!! SAILER IS SCHOOLLLLLED!


    Francis Nevins writes good mystery stories though.

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  20. You might think all those billionaires supporting the Gang of 8 bill would give more thinking liberals pause.

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  21. 1. Immigration is going to turn into more high-skill, this is already happening.

    Some years it's high-skill, then when the economy picks up, it's low-skill.


    2. These people have in many cases already been here for over 10, 15 years. By legalizing them, their wages will rise.

    They are already de facto undercutting the wages of Americans right now.


    How naive are you? Once they become legal, most will keep their same under-the-table jobs AND collect welfare! Do you really think the they are going to start asking for 1099's???? Do you think employers are going to keep them if they do?


    3. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the graduation rates of hispanics has dramatically risen. Of all 18 year olds, 78% now graduate high school, up from 52% in 2000.

    This is actually the least important. Non-technical BA's don't mean jack shit these days. Hish school diplomas mean even less. It will only result in more defaulted student loans.

    Dude, get serious.

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  22. The U.S., which now has the worlds third largest population, is attempting to emulate China's massive population and extremely low wages.

    China has low wages. But they are now above Mexico's, which is another way of saying they are about to overtake most of Latin America.

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  23. "2. These people have in many cases already been here for over 10, 15 years. By legalizing them, their wages will rise.

    They are already de facto undercutting the wages of Americans right now."

    but Obamacare, coupled with Schumer Rubio, disincentivizes US business from hiring American citizens over RPIs (or illegal aliens) because of obamacare tax penalties.

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cruz-argues-against-immigration-bill-s-obamacare-amnesty-tax_737924.html

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  24. "veteran liberal journalist Thomas Frank?" How can a sub-Adbusters pinko scenester dating back to the late 90s be a "veteran"

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