The Paleocon "Threat"

Fred Barnes writes about the rise of paleocon conservative issues in the upcoming elections, noting accurately that the pessimistic tone of many paleocons is hardly a recipe for electoral success.

He's right. But he is too dismissive of current concerns about illegal immigration.

Don't get me wrong -- I understand how Mr. Barnes feels. When I didn't live in California, I felt much the same way -- and even now, I do believe in well-crafted immigration laws that welcome people from all over the world who want to come here, work hard and become Americans. I don't care about the color of the immigrants' skin; I care about the content of their characters.

But people like Mr. Barnes (and like I once was), who don't live in California, don't realize what it means to live in a state with a huge illegal immigrant population of any nationality that is disproportionately poor and uneducated. It means that highways are even more clogged with unbelievable traffic (and that if you're hit, there's a good chance that the other party won't have a license, much less car insurance). It means that schools are crowded, and subject to the difficulties posed by children who don't speak English at home. It means that hospital emergency rooms are overrun -- and so are the hospitals. So are the prisons.

As I pointed out last year in an op/ed in The Washington Times, although Republicans have plenty to fear from the paleocons, they also have plenty to fear (can anyone say "Madam President"?) from mishandling (or ignoring, or condescending to) the very real disgruntlement engendered by a perceived indifference to the impact of illegal immigration on the quality of life in places like California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.