Immigration, the Senate, and the People

Government was transformed this past week. As Robert Caro correctly notes (despite populist notions to the contrary), the United States Senate was designed to be immune from popular pressure: “to ensure that the Senate could protect the people against themselves, the Framers armored the Senate against the people.” As Edmund Randolph put it, “The object of this second branch (the Senate) is to control the democratic branch (the House).” Clearly, this week, the august body felt (and reacted to) popular pressure on an immigration bill that had been blessed by the leadership of both parties, the White House and the mainstream media.

Entomologists probing the cognition of bugs suddenly exposed to sunlight could study the soundtrack of Trent Lott and his colleagues for clues. Scripted to spring full grown from the dark recesses of Senate process to the Unites States Code, the immigration bill was stopped when people, using new media tools, abruptly flipped over the Senate’s rock. Angry and confused Senators scurried in all directions.

Citizens rewrote the script, recasting protagonists as foils and heroes as villains. NZ Bear quickly put the bill into (somewhat) manageable form for the people to review. Citizens, like Hot Air, cobbled together a few quick, cheap and effective videos (that left the Wall Street Journal asking, “Who are those guys?”). And citizens everywhere got involved in the debate. Rather than play out the revised script, the Senate meekly drew the curtain closed. When it was over, the people had stopped the Senate in its tracks.

This puts us in a moment of considerable disequilibrium. The people floored the Senate. And both sides know that it wasn’t a sucker punch. It was a solid, round-by-round, punch-by-punch, Ali v. Liston-like trashing.

Rather than step into that ring again, the Senate likely will do two things to restore the natural order. First, the Institution of the Senate will work to reclaim its advantage – by silencing its critics through restrictions on new media “for the good of reliable public discourse.” Second, the Senate will avoid the immigration issue like the plague. Both reactions are unacceptable and must be stopped by the people.

Magnanimous in victory, the people must do two things. First, the people should lift the Senate, help it dust itself off, and send it on the right path, by embracing Senators who engage directly with the people. It’s a new thing to them. Efforts should be generously rewarded. On the other hand, the first Senator who makes any motion toward silencing the dialogue should be stepped on immediately.

Second, a productive, result-oriented dialogue on immigration must be fostered. In politics, it is very easy to say “no” to any and all ideas. Every proposal can be not good enough. And every person can avoid responsibility by claiming a high ground of philosophical purity. The real work in government, though, comes in crafting solutions. Immigration needs a solution. And, if a solution is to be found, it is the people that will find it.

Congratulations, folks. Now get to work.

UPDATE: Thoughts by Mark Steyn.