"Lou Dobbs Democrats"

Lots of discussion in my neck of the blogosphere lately about "Lou Dobbs Democrats." Lots of people don't see how a Democrat could support Lou Dobbs's position on immigration.

I can't understand why people on the Left don't understand why some Democrats do. It's not like there aren't some uninformed Democrats. God knows I wish I were wrong about that, but, well, no.

It's obvious why there's such a thing as a "Lou Dobbs Democrat." It's because the Right owns the immigration discussion and has successfully tied desperately poor Latino peasants to (1) national security and (2) domestic labor concerns, and the Left has done a lousy job of educating its base on the facts. It's because there are a lot of people who spook easily and never ask questions.

Uninformed, frightened, and confused people make bad decisions. Without discussion, without taking time to think through the issues, it's easy to blame our every economic worry on brown people scrabbling across the desert in the dead of night.

Several generations of Americans are running around loose who got their politics from the backs of cars. Bumper-sticker politics. Only, some (most) ideas don't fit on bumper stickers. People accustomed to making political decisions on the basis of bumper stickers and sound bites aren't well equipped to think through complex situations--meaning any situation with two or more moving parts. For them, if a policy has what scientists call "face validity"--it's believable on its face, or it sounds sensible-- that's good enough.

The Right has mastered the politics of "face validity," and has put up some pretty horrible laws as a result.

Some of the questions that progressives need to address in order for our base to take an informed position on immigration reform:

What are the root causes of "illegal immigration" from Mexico and Central America?

What can Americans do to effectively address those causes?

Which specific sectors of the US labor market are harmed by Mexican and Central American immigration, and where are the data to support this answer?

Can the immigration issue be separated from the border security issue? How?

What's wrong with a guest worker program?

What's wrong with amnesty?

What's wrong with "free trade"?

Do Mexican and Central American immigrants cost the economy more in social services and other matters than they contribute to the economy in taxes and consumer spending?
Where are the data to support this answer?

What would a sane and reasonable immigration policy include?

Is the fence a good use of taxpayer dollars? Why? Why not?

Should there be a cap on the number of immigrants allowed into the country annually?

If there is a cap of any kind, won't there always still be "illegal immigrants"?

What accounts for our thinning labor market?

What can Americans do to plump it up?

Oh, and do our Constitution and Bill of Rights have anything to say to us on this issue?