But Is Nothing The Alternative?

Phillipe Legrain says the immigration bill is bad, but it’s still better than nothing. Well, I agree about that. I don’t, however, accept this fatalistic notion that “nothing” is the alternative. In particular, since the compromise bill provides very little in the way of short term relief for illegals in the country already, the costs of delay don’t seem especially high.

Meanwhile, the argument that political circumstances will never again be favorable to an amnesty seem off-base to me. Certainly, I’m not prepared to preemptively surrender. The guest worker provision is bad. The Senate should get rid of it. Bush will sign anything that passes. There isn’t a binary choice here.