Life plays funny tricks on you. In families and among circles of friends it sometimes happens where you are mourning one person's death at the same time a new baby is about to be born, or a wedding is about to happen. Yesterday was like that for the progressive family, and it feels like the last couple of years have been that way all the time.
At the same time that we mourn the loss of the commonsense, bi-partisan, utterly moderate idea of the DREAM Act for immigrant students, we celebrate the long delayed and absurdly painful passage of the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." What one hand giveth, the other taketh away. Through the unfortunately standard combination of Democratic bad luck, dysfunctional Senate rules, and poor political decision making, we couldn't have even a moment or two to celebrate a big victory without a horribly painful defeat happening the very same day. This is the story of the last two years. In early 2009, we get the biggest investment in public jobs and infrastructure when every progressive economist was screaming at the top of their lungs that the amount of money in the stimulus bill is way too inadequate to deal with the economic crisis at hand, so we see the official unemployment rate rise to 10%, and voters think the stimulus didn't work. We finally get a version of comprehensive health care reform, but it doesn't include the one thing most progressives were most passionate about, the public option. We get a banking reform bill that does some great things to rebuild the regulatory structure, but it does nothing on the most important problem to deal with, breaking up the big banks. Democrats pass wonderful policy changes that would be highly popular if any actual voter living outside of DC knew about them -- equal pay for women, tax cuts for the middle class embedded into the stimulus bill, a big improvement in the student loan system, a bill finally regulating the tobacco industry, a measure to help protect consumers from bank rip-offs -- and then never again talk about them.
So this weekend is one of those classic bittersweet moments for me. Both of these issues are really personal to me. I was in a lot of those White House meetings in 1993 trying to figure out how to get out of the corner Sam Nunn and Colin Powell had painted us into on gays in the military, knowing that if we had a showdown on the floor of Congress, we would get our asses kicked and get a policy locked in that was terrible. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" compromise was a truly bitter pill to swallow, the best we thought we could do given the political dynamics in front of us at that time, and I have been hoping we could finally do the right thing for 17 years since, so this is a truly great day for me. But I have also done a lot of work on the immigration issue, and I have looked into the hopeful and earnest faces of the students who were fighting for the DREAM Act. These young people know the promise and ideals of America better than most of us that grew up here. they know the words on the statue of liberty. They know the words of the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address and the I Have A Dream speech. They know what America is supposed to be, and I know they are bitterly disappointed today, and I am disappointed with them and for them.
For the sake of the Democratic party and the broader progressive family, for the sake of our spirits and psychology, this should have been managed better than to put this great victory and this bitter pill together. When your troops are battered and their morale is beaten up, to finally have won a big victory on such an important issue should have been a moment of pure joy, but it got messed up. Democrats need to figure out how to take these victories and highlight them rather than pairing them with something awful.
Having said all that, even with the bitter defeat of the DREAM Act, progressives do need to take a moment here at the end of this tough year and celebrate the end of DADT. It is an important victory for all of us, not just for gays and lesbians. Progress has been made, justice has finally been done, and we should glory in it. We should give credit where credit is due, to all those brave gay and lesbian soldiers who have served their country twice, in our wars and in the cause of justice. We should give credit to the LGBT movement that made this happen, to the insiders and outsiders whose combined efforts made it happen. And we should give credit to the politicians who finally pushed it through all the barriers and hoops and prejudice to make it happen. Change is never easy, even when it should be, and it never feels like you are winning when you are in the heat of battle. But as MLK liked to remind us, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it curves toward justice. It will curve someday toward justice on immigration, and on the other issues we are still fighting on. We just have to keep battling.
Joshua Hoyt: Democracy for Some
Rep. Luis Gutierrez: Make This a DREAM Act Christmas
Dave Johnson: Don't Pass Tax Cuts for the Rich and Then Tell Me About Deficits
However, let us motivate us to pressure the Senate to reform this "pain-free filibuster" which allows for the tyranny of obstruction of the minority in the Senate with no cost or inconvenience.
Also, this will backfire on Republicans just like Proposition 187. In California, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson rode Proposition 187 to reelection in 1994 for a short-term victory. As Latinos increase their voter participation, it is making the Republican Party (deservedly) irrelevant in California.
As Latinos increase their voter participation nationwide, it will have a negative affect on Republicans for a generation -- and well deserved.
However, here are the states where Democrats still control the governorship and state legislature:
California
Washington
Hawaii
Illinois
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Vermont
Maryland
Delaware
District of Columbia
Arkansas
West Virginia
(Rhode Island has a reasonable independent governor who can be persuaded to work with the Democratic legislature).
It is unlikely that ANY progressive legislation will pass the House over the next two years. However, just as progressives should work within these states to create statewide, open-to-everyone, public health insurance options, these states can pass DREAM acts for their own state colleges and universities if they so choose.
If we want to do more than play defense for 2 years, it's time for progressives to use federalism on their own behalf in the states where they can.
Well, there is the Non-Health Non-Care Non-Reform Bill that received a lot of support.
As for the latino special interest groups, what about AIPAC? Aren't their interest primarily for the settlers and Isreal?
Mexico has universal health care? They are evolved.
This act was not for only the best and brightest, but for any illegal who could pass for under 30 years old. There was no requirement for proof of any kind to get the conditional permit, only for the permanent one after completing the requirements. Labor had been against this for years until recently when they changed their position in the belief that it would help the Democrats. They have more loyalty to the party than their own members.
The Progressive movement has historically been against ALL immigration since it drives down wages and kills union membership. FDR imposed a ban on all immigration during the Depression. I guess that was NOT a progressive measure? Now that we have another Depression, it is NOT progressive to promote more immigration,especially of the illegal kind.
It’s about giving a path to citizenship to those who are here through no fault of their own (having been brought here by their parents) and are ALREADY members of our society. It doesn’t encourage additional illegal immigration in any way. Don’t know where you are getting this “anyone who looks under 30” business, though. You want proof that their parents brought them here? Why does it matter? They are HERE and if they have no path to citizenship available, they aren’t going to come forward and let anyone find out they’re illegal, anyway. They will continue to settle for below minimum wage jobs and the country’s overall wages that you are so worried about will continue being driven down.
And as for the issue of "proof"... the legislation in question doesn't seem to provide any mechanism for verifying that the illegal aliens actually meet the criteria necessary for them to gain citizenship; in other words, it's a covert amnesty for a large number of illegals, not just those advertised as being covered.
That said, I am delighted that DADT was repealed. Thirty-two years ago I left the Navy after a four-year enlistment. This was long before DADT was on the horizon. I loved my job and could easily have been a "lifer" but I saw no way at the time to reconcile being gay with continuing my service.
To this day, I regret that I was unable to continue serving my country because I loved my job and the shipmates I served with.
I hope that the repeal of DADT will make the service of my fellow gay servicemembers easier and allows them to concentrate on serving their country rather than always worrying about someone stabbing them in the back.
I am sure those they serve with will also be glad to free of this stifling and unproductive policy.