Say Anything Blog

The amendment put forward by North Dakota’s own Byron Dorgan to kill a Department of Transportation program allowing Mexican truckers to deliver goods to US destinations was passed by the Senate today.  This proves that while the unions may be declining in enrollment, they still do have some clout in Washington.

Really, I didn’t have much hope for this bill anyway.  On the left it faced opposition from hypocritical unions who are usually in favor of wide-open borders to let in lots and lots of potential dues-paying members illegal immigrants but in this instance were opposed to Mexico-based trucking firms being able to bypass expensive unionized truckers at the border (which would have made goods from Mexico cheaper for Americans).

On the right, this faced opposition from certain elements of the anti-illegal immigration crowd (which I consider myself a member of) who are so overly-zealous in their cause they don’t recognize that authorizing border crossings for Mexican citizens coming into our country for legitimate, and entirely temporary, business transactions is good for both our country and Mexico.  I’ll stop short of calling these people xenophobes (though that’s what many of them are) and simply refer to them as ill-informed.

Regardless, I’m really disappointed this didn’t pass.  As one who believes that free markets are the cure to most of societies ills, I thought this was a fantastic opportunity to help invigorate Mexico’s economy by giving it better access to our economy and, ultimately, remove some of the motivation those coming illegally from there to here have. 

But the protectionists have won out, and we’re all the worse off for it.

Update:  The folks at Hot Air are cheering, but I’m not sure why.  Given that it’s Michelle Malkin’s site, and illegal immigration is her pet issue, it’s not surprising that the folks over there are forcefully pro-border security.

But I am too.  I guess I just recognize the difference between opposing illegal immigration and opposing legitimate international free trade that would actually do a great deal to slow illegal immigration.

Really, conservatives don’t have any business opposing this sort of free trade.  And, frankly, in terms of the immigration debate opposing something as logical as this arrangement is exactly what makes many border-security proponents fit into the “xenophobe” or “nativist” mold.