Whichever Way The Wind Blows

It's the Thursday after the Tuesday of the 2012 elections, and along with the rest of the Media my local paper is awash in stories diagnosing the terrible state of the Republican Party.  Now,  that's a curious conclusion given that Repubs continued to dominate the House of Representatives and picked up more governorships as well.  This article was typical though: "Advocates for immigration reform say party needs to step up, deliver" (Thursday Front Page).  In their usual irritating style, my local paper - The Chronicle - changed the article's title once it got embedded on their website, so on their behalf, I apologize for the confusion.

 

The article's author used the occasion of President Obama's re-election to once again - along with all the Usual Suspects - admonish Republicans to cave in to Democrat policies or be doomed to irrelevance.   And this is by no means limited to immigration: there are seven other articles or opinion pieces in the Thursday edition of the Chron that conclude that voters also rejected the Republican position on women's issues, gay marriage, health care and the economy - all on the basis of Obama's sub 2% victory, fueled largely by his domination of the Hispanic vote.
 

Let's focus on immigration. If you look at this issue strictly based on politics, it makes perfect sense for Democrats to promote Illegal Immigration through America's hyper-generous social welfare programs. Once Immigrants cross the border, their numbers count in our census and exert a proportionate influence on our Electoral College and the allocation of Congressional districts. That is why California - to name but one example - is the electoral colossus for Democrats that it is, and will be for generations.
 

Open to question is whether this is good for anybody. The bulk of our Immigrants come from Mexico, as many as the next eight countries combined. But why is it that these folks feel the need to flee their own country? Mexico is as blessed as America with arable land, natural resources and weather, but they have never developed the civil society that America has.  Their country is in thrall to narco-terrorist cartels whose poisons flow over our borders by the ton every day, with much of that carried by Illegal Immigrants.
 

Isn't it curious that America has devoted so little in resources to helping Mexico solve our collective problems? You'd think that if we can justify spending a trillion dollars over a dozen years to transform Iraq and Afghanistan, that we could scrape together a fraction of that to transform our next door neighbor. And surely it is better for Mexicans to live in Mexico, regardless of the consequences for American politics? Instead of inviting them to live in America, we ought be fighting to make their country one worth living in.
 

Looked at from that perspective, the chairs could fairly be turned on Democrats.  If they are in fact the party of compassion, why so little concern for the 110 million Mexicans left in Mexico?  Do they propose that all of them should be allowed to come to America, or only enough to preserve their political fortunes?

These are the questions I would like my local newspaper to ask.  I'm not holding my breath waiting for it to happen though.