I don’t really cover immigration.  It just strikes me as a morass from which there is no escape.  It has been debated since my politically observant life began.  Consider where we are at the moment.  We have recently changed administrations, and with that change, immigration policy did not merely shift, it changed drastically from one far end of the spectrum (Biden’s unfettered border) to the other far end (Trump’s bolted and locked border.)  There have been riots and some politicians insist on beclowning themselves in what passes for the debate.  It is as if no one wants to find any middle ground, any workable system; they want only to posture and pose, debate and protest – play for votes rather than govern.

This situation arises because there does not seem to be anything resembling a consensus among the American people.  Southern California, and other border areas, has always tolerated illegal immigration to some extent – certain economic sectors rely upon it.  Other parts of the nation are far less tolerant viewing illegal immigrants as taking their jobs and draining their resources.  The ever burgeoning government teat makes it difficult to know whether people are coming for opportunity or to nurse upon that teat.  Biden’s unfettered border has allowed a distinctly criminal element to flow in with the the tired, poor and huddled masses, rendering that wink-and-a-nudge view towards a moderate level of undocumented border crossing far less tolerable.

We are in an unfortunate situation where our elected leadership needs to actually lead.

Politics, the art of getting elected, in this nation has largely become an exercise in telling people what they want to hear. But here we are with an issue where the nation is nearly as polarized as it was on slavery back in the day.  Simply giving the nation what it wants will not cut it because the nation does not know what it wants.  Finding a middle ground is rendered nearly impossible because extreme stances have produced extreme responses which have in turn produced even more extreme responses, until there are very real and serious problems.

On the one hand we have the problem of having to ingest the massive influx created by the Biden policy (well, lack thereof), while eliminating the worst of those that took advantage of that policy (well, lack thereof.)  On the other hand, this is a nation of immigrants and some level of immigration is necessary to sustain it.  Not to mention there are very real and deeply moving humanitarian reasons to permit some immigration.  The open border policy was not sustainable and neither is the locked down border.  Both stances appeal to a segment of voters that has, in different circumstances, proven sufficient to elect a president.  But neither will work in the long run.

We need a leader that will forge a path, not follow one.  President Trump is, above all, a deal maker and this would be the ultimate deal.  But the real test of his leadership will be in the fact that I do not see a “win-win” scenario.  Passions are running too high and the realities are too extreme.  This will be, I am afraid, one of those deals where no one will walk away happy, which means the sweet spot will have been found.  That will be difficult for a man whose deepest instincts are to find the win-win.

It is time for realpolitik.  Can our leadership deliver it?