Immigration Reform. Or Not. Probably Not.

Well, things certainly are heating up on the immigration reform front. Last Thursday, tired of waiting for Congress to act, President Obama issued an executive order to address part of the problem of illegal immigration. Predictably, the GOP accused Mr Obama of "shredding the Constitution" and acting like an emperor rather than a president, and sued him.

None of which, of course, addresses the actual problem ... which is that our immigration system is broken, in dire need of fixing, and will never be fixed in our lifetimes because the fundamental issues of law, fairness, and decency have been superseded by a recognition that there is more to be gained by using immigration reform as a club with which to beat each other than by doing the hard work of actually fixing the law.

The Senate passed an immigration reform bill back in 2013 and sent it to the House. The House petulantly refused to do its job, which would have been to come up with its own immigration reform bill and designate a conference committee to blend it with the Senate bill to come up with a law that represented, as far as possible, everyone's interests. Thus, here we are in 2014 with no bill and a frustrated President who felt obligated to take action of debatable legality to accomplish that which Congress refuses to do.

Most of you know that I have developed a draft immigration reform plan that, while not perfect, had something in it that could appeal to all sides of the hysterical debate, assuming they could stop screaming long enough to read it. I sent copies to my Senators and Reprehensives and to the President, all of whom sent nice letters thanking me for my interest in this serious problem that's the other side's fault blah, blah, blah, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.

And here we are.

As we approach Thanksgiving, give thanks that you have a country to which you can belong. And reflect that you come from a long line of ... immigrants. Imagine that.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo