Immigration Causes Political Impotence

People on both sides of the issue are demonstrating on U.S. streets — perhaps more passionately and riskily than ever before. All over the country, there is growing impatience over illegal immigration.

Our ethnic, cultural and racial polarization is increasingly visible. President Barack Obama, who promised to fix our broken immigration system in his first year, is already well into his second. Arizona has gone rogue by passing a law that usurps the federal government and has caused further polarization across the country. Entire families, feeling forced to flee from Arizona, suddenly are migrating to other states. U.S.-Mexico border skirmishes, fueled by Mexican drugs and U.S. guns, are more frequent and much more violent.

Regardless of which side of the immigration debate we are on, most Americans clearly feel that Congress and the president need to deal with this issue immediately, as if there were no mañana!

Yet instead of recognizing this as a national emergency, Washington has formed a general consensus that there is simply "no political will" to deal with immigration reform legislation at this time, especially not in the months prior to the November midterm elections.

That's how pundits dismiss it on Capitol Hill. As simple as that! Rome could be burning, but if there is nothing to be gained by our Washington politicians, they will tell you there is simply "no political will" to put out the fire. If an issue is likely to gain them as many enemies as it does friends, they're not interested. Why bother? National interest ranks a distant second to their selfish need to remain in office.

Some, including President Obama, are blaming it all on the opposition. Democrats say there is not enough political will among Senate Republicans to support a comprehensive immigration reform package, as if we could easily forget that they did nothing when they had a supermajority and didn't need the Republicans.

Republicans, including some who were moderates on this issue, have moved much further to the right. Sen. John McCain is a prime example. But they, too, are doing it for personal gain. As they appeal for support from the extreme right of their conservative base, they don't seem to care about the fire they are fanning or how it could go out of control.

Bottom line: What we all lack on this issue, regardless of which side we are on, is leadership.

I know. Some people believe we already have good leaders, because they follow the radical extremists on one side or the other. But those are not good leaders. Flamethrowers will not solve our immigration problem. It's easy to say what your political base wants to hear. Real leaders are those who are willing to compromise with the opposition for the good of the country, even when their bases are not entirely in agreement.

Good leaders will be the Democrats who tell their base that harsh measures will need to be taken against illegal immigration in the future — especially at our borders and ports of entry. Good leaders will be the Republicans who tell their base that — even if just for the sake of national security — some kind of amnesty needs to be granted to the millions of undocumented immigrants already living here.

Unfortunately, such leaders are hard to find nowadays. On immigration, we have more dividers than compromisers, more politicians looking out for themselves than for the country. But it's not a lack of "political will" that's holding us up. It's political impotence — no real leadership on either side!

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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