Another Look At The Immigration Reform Paradox

By Brian Beutler, Talking Points Memo

Let’s take another look at the immigration reform paradox I wrote about yesterday. I think these ultimately amount to different ways of explaining the same thing, but that this analysis might be better for heuristic purposes.

In a polarized two-party political system, it makes sense that big national policy reform ideas are often partisan. There are exceptions, obviously. But since only one party can ultimately reap a net electoral benefit from any single reform, it stands to reason that the other party would broadly oppose it. Immigration reform in 2013 violates this rule of thumb. Or at least it appears to. But when you put the emerging consensus in context it doesn’t seem quite so irrational.

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