Crossover Issues

Yes, I'm lousy at updating and cross-linking and my comment code is farked. Get over it. And go visit the community Centerfield blog for some thoughtful discussion of current issues.

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It's easy to make the mistake that political topics are not highly interrelated, as we tend to examine them in isolation. There's very good reason to tackle issues one at a time in a democracy. Simply put, there is no feasible Grand Unified Field Solution in the democratic process. Democratic reform is by nature incremental, an uphill struggle against societal inertia. Trying to do everything at once is called "revolution," generally requires abrupt and deadly force, a forced disintegration of the social compact. Democracy is designed to avoid such abrupt violent revolution by substituting peaceful (if noisy and often bitter) incremental revolution in its place.

One of the biggest cop-outs in examining any political issue is to try to divert attention to another issue, saying "But what about X?" Social Security is a problem. But you're ignoring Medicare, which is a bigger problem. Illegal immigration is a problem. But deficit spending is a bigger problem--what about that? Sorry, but the Revolution isn't here yet. One step at a time, please, and quit changing the subject!

But, of course, many issues are highly interrelated. If they weren't, solutions would be much easier to find and implement. I've written often about the very good and sound practical reasons that both parties pay lip service to illegal immigration but don't ever seem to do much about it. Today, the New York Times shows that I'm not the only one who's noticed some of those reasons.

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions