"Democrats say government can make you healthier, richer, and remove the weeds from your lawn. Republicans say government doesn't work - then get elected to prove it." -- P. J. O'Rourke.
I was reminded of this pithy line the other day as the current shutdown of the United States federal government surpassed all others in length, the result of bipartisan incompetence.
After winning the White House, Congress, and the chance to remake the Supreme Court in 2016, Republicans failed to secure funding for a border wall during two years in government. It was this flagship policy of U.S. President Donald Trump that led to their victory; yet the president and party hesitated to make his promise a reality, even conceding rhetorical ground to Democrats. Now the GOP has lost the purse strings to the opposition party, thanks to the 2018 midterm elections.
Democratic House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi has declared the wall un-American and xenophobic. But the demonization of this tool used in border security across the globe rings no bells of irony in her house of woke liberalism, despite the fact that from Andrew Cuomo to Mark Zuckerberg, every celebrity, CEO, or politician of the left has strong, high walls built around their homes, regardless of how affluent and safe the surrounding neighbourhood is known to be.
This is nothing new for even casual observers of our political class: to the right, a lack of skill in working the levers of government while failing to live up to election promises, only to be matched by the flagrant hypocrisy of the elitist left declaring equality for all from their limousines.
There are policy options available to end the crisis, but these still require both parties to first give the other a fair hearing - an act deemed treasonous in itself by many on either side of the aisle. But if such an open exchange could be arranged, here are points that must be made.
For the right, the responsibilities of citizenship must be the primary concern of all immigrants to the United States. Assimilation cannot be a dirty word, derided by the kinds of people who neither put their kids in public school nor live in neighbourhoods with any illegal aliens. Being a member of the body politic means absorbing the values and norms that have preserved the free and democratic society to which people have decided to come. Full stop.
For the left, welcoming new arrivals to their shores, particularly those with reasons to flee from persecution at home, is a venerable tradition of the United States. And the problem of those illegal aliens having already long resided in the country must be carefully adjudicated, the best conclusion being green cards for those fully employed and summary deportation for those with a criminal record. More policies clearly follow, like strengthening labour laws for the working class.
As to the border, there ought to be bipartisan interest in its integrity. Monitoring 3,145 kilometres of border between the U.S. and Mexico is best achieved with a fleet of new drones rather than a wall.
And for those right libertarians and left identitarians still arguing for open borders, there is short shrift indeed: such shilling for neoliberal orthodoxy, intentional or not, is what gave rise to the populist waves around the world, best embodied by Steve Bannon's and Bernie Sanders' many followers.
Finally, the issue of furloughed or indentured federal employees must be resolved. To be clear, lockouts are a perfectly legitimate strategy for forcing an issue and there is a reasonable point to be made that the American federal government has grown too large. But if agencies are to be shuttered, let that be a separate argument; until then, Democrats and Republicans have a responsibility to reopen the government and discuss issues without making civil servants suffer.
None of what I am suggesting is original. Politicians, despite our wishes, are people; as such, they ought to utilize the same conflict resolving strategies we all use.
But are they willing?
