Academic

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: How Could They Do That in Arizona! ?Here it goes from a supporter of legal im?

By Glenn Reynolds

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: How Could They Do That in Arizona! “Here it goes from a supporter of legal immigration: how are we to make sense of the current Arizona debate? One should show concern about some elements of the law, but only in the context of the desperation of the citizens of Arizona. And one should show some skepticism concerning mounting liberal anguish, so often expressed by those whose daily lives are completely unaffected by the revolutionary demographic, cultural, and legal transformations occurring in the American Southwest. . . . Mexico is now more violent than Iraq. The unrest is spilling across the borders. The old shrill argument that criminals, drug smugglers, and violence in general are spreading into the American southwest from Mexico is not longer quite so shrill.”

Related: State climate-change laws good, state immigration laws bad.

And, from Daniel Griswold at Cato: “A silver lining of the Arizona immigration law is that is has turned up the heat on Washington to re-examine federal policy. . . . In brief, the single most effective change would be to expand opportunities for legal immigration, including for low-skilled workers who make up the large majority of the illegal population.”

Yes, the real scandal isn’t how Arizona is treating illegals, it’s how the Federal government treats people who try to legally immigrate.

UPDATE: A reader says he’s suprised to see me support the Arizona bill. Well, I really don’t — that is, I don’t know if I’d have voted for it if I were in Arizona. I’m mostly reacting to the fact that — as demonstrated by Linda Greenhouse — the opposition displays that special combination of self-righteous outrage and bone-deep stupidity that really sets me off.

Lack of border security is a real problem, and pretending otherwise is dumb or dishonest. The feds are doing a lousy job of it. Arizona is trying to prod them. All this over-the-top Nazi talk — particularly from people like Greenhouse, who don’t mind the federal government deciding if I get a kidney transplant — is disgraceful, as are the bogus charges of racism, etc., that are the standard response regardless of what the issue is. That does get my dander up.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on April 28, 2010 (boomark / email).