Why immigration reform will die

Don’t expect resolution of the immigration problem anytime soon, the primary reason being gerrymandering by politicians who have divided up voting districts to ensure their candidates are re-elected year after year. They choose voters from the extreme right and left, in essence disenfranchising the majority of voters in the middle.

Gerrymandering could be corrected on a state-by-state basis, but ultimately will require a constitutional amendment to cover the whole country.

Democrats would be the prime beneficiaries of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens, and vote Democratic. That will be blocked by Republicans forever.

Also, as long as immigrants are illegal, they can be paid below minimum wage without benefits, a form of in-country outsourcing. This keeps a lid on wages for the remaining American employees.

To cap the whole political mess, we can now boast, thanks to Citizens United, to having legally sanctioned bribery based on the premise that political contributions are a form of First Amendment free speech, and should not be restricted. Translation: Money talks.

Now you know why we have such a sorry bunch of politicians at both the state and national level.

W.D. CLARKSON
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