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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocrats Are Doing the Right Thing
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/defending-daca-during-the-government-shutdown-fight-is-democrats-moral-obligation.htmlDemocrats Are Doing the Right Thing
Capitulating on DACA would mean abdicating the partys moral responsibilities.
By Mark Joseph Stern
Jan 21, 20187:47 PM
On the second day of the first government shutdown of Donald Trumps presidency, one narrative began to rise above the rest: Blame the Democrats. Republican lawmakers and Trump advisers blitzed the airwaves on Sunday to explain why Senate Democrats demand for a DACA fix tethered to a funding bill is irresponsible and unreasonable. (DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is an Obama-era executive policy that allows undocumented people who came to the U.S. as children to live and work here legally. Last September, the Trump administration announced that it would phase out the program.) Marc Short, White House director of legislative affairs, proclaimed that we want to solve the DACA issue, but that Democrats incorrigibility made the task impossible. Trump claimed that Democrats are holding our Military hostage over their desire to have unchecked illegal immigration.
This spin is laughably inaccurate. Four Senate Republicans voted against a bill to keep the government open on Friday; a majority of Democrats simply chose not to bail out the measure since it included no DACA solution. The blame falls primarily on GOP party leadershipwhich in thrall to a nativist minorityas well as the White Houses hopelessly mixed signals.
But even if the narrative sticks and Democrats take the fall for this shutdown, they made the right call by refusing to prop up the GOPs stopgap funding bill. The administration has negotiated over DACA in bad faith from the very start, and Democrats may never have more leverage than they do today. Standing up for DACA may wind up being bad politics. For the Democratic Party, it is also a moral obligation.
At various points in the DACA debate, all sides have pointed to Donald Trump as the chief impediment to a deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently admitted that Trump has not yet indicated what measure he is willing to sign, and that the GOP cant figure out what he is for. But its not actually fair to blame Trump alone for this disaster; the president is plainly uninterested in the details of a final dealand, more importantly, he did not force Congress hand on DACA in the first place.
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Faced with intra-party discord and malevolent prevarication from Republicans, what are Democrats to do about DACA? Rely on more easily broken promises from Ryan, McConnell, and the White House? Go along with the lie that Dreamers can wait until March for relief? Surrender altogether to the whims of a Republican Party dominated by serial fibbers? Of course not. The first DREAM Act was introduced in 2001. Republicans have foiled its passage for 17 years. At some point, Democrats had to draw a line in the sand. That moment arrived on Friday.
A government shutdown is an awful thing. Its a humiliation for the nation that disrupts hundreds of thousands of lives, and it may well provoke backlash against progressives. But Democrats had no other choice. Republicans cannot be trusted to protect Dreamers from a crisis of the GOPs own making. To capitulate on DACA would be an abdication of the Democratic Partys moral responsibilities. Dreamers belong in this country, and Democrats should use every bit of leverage they have to keep them here.
bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)Demsrule86
(68,586 posts)Kelly...who is no longer a Marine.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,639 posts)L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Fuck your racist wall and the Deplorables you rode in on. We won't be extorted to accept that bullshit.
rso
(2,273 posts)Democrats need to improve their messaging and be more aggressive. The DNC needs to put together a short clip of 45s previous comments (e.g. we need a good shutdown), Tammy Duckworths comments about 45s draft-dodging and several other embarrassing/contradictory statements by republicans, and purchase air time on TV for an intensive messaging campaign.
Demsrule86
(68,586 posts)off our money people with our 'purity' nonsense.
vi5
(13,305 posts)Now lets hope the thankfully few Dems looking for some bipartisan cred dont fuck things up by caving.
Phoenix61
(17,006 posts)Enough already. We have rolled over and we have caved and it has done nothing but encouraged them to be even more evil. Long past time to draw a line in the sand and hold tight.
elmac
(4,642 posts)& had a fascist panel, sad, very sad. Anyway, Flake is voting with the fascists, we will see if the Dems stand together or cross over and give the '18 elections to the fascists.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,611 posts)(202)224-3121
DownriverDem
(6,229 posts)more left leaning voters to vote for the Dems in November. That way we can stop/slow down trump and the repub agenda.
sandensea
(21,639 posts)Democrats should drive this point hard: that the Rethugs are using this opportunity of theirs to finally rescind CHIP - insurance so many millions depend on.
Tatiana
(14,167 posts)Yes, it is absolutely time to draw a line in the sand about this issue (and some others, as well).
It helps that there are Republican Senators not willing to jump off the cliff Trump, Cotton, Miller et. al are trying to lead everyone toward.
Keep the government shut down until the Republicans blink. They own the shutdown and we should never stop saying this is the #TrumpShutdown.
Sophia4
(3,515 posts)And in this case, in so far as the Dreamers are concerned, this is their country as it is mine, ours. They belong here. They went to school here. It is morally right to let them stay.
I'm with Democrats who stand up for the Dreamers.
elmac
(4,642 posts)any party or anyone who stands in the way of Dreamers is getting the boot. Dems better stick together on this, do whats right or they can kiss '18 elections bye bye.
LW1977
(1,235 posts)... so they dont cave.
yuiyoshida
(41,832 posts)n/t
BobTheSubgenius
(11,564 posts)Is the public at large THAT dumb? Obviously, a large part of the Perception Gap is the fact that a proper understanding of these situations requires being, at the very least, AWAKE, goddammit.
It also requires paying attention to something other than impending bottom of a can of Bud and the footballs scores...but never mind. What are the chances THAT will happen?