Border Bits

I don't like to get too much into the hot issues of the day on here, because you can read about them in 4,346,768 other places. So I won't comment on the Arizona immigration bill directly, I'll just make a couple of tangential points.

First, Ross Douthat does a great job of summing up how people like myself think immigration should work in general:

In a better world, the United States would welcome hundreds of thousands more legal immigrants annually, from a much wider array of countries. A more diverse immigrant population would have fewer opportunities to self-segregate and stronger incentives to assimilate. Fears of a Spanish-speaking reconquista would diminish, and so would the likelihood of backlash. And instead of being heavily skewed toward low-skilled migrants, our system could tilt toward higher-skilled applicants, making America more competitive and less stratified.

Such a system would also be fairer to the would-be immigrants themselves. America has always prided itself on attracting people from every culture, continent and creed. In a globalized world, aspiring Americans in Zimbabwe or Burma should compete on a level playing field with Mexicans and Salvadorans. The American dream should seem no more unattainable in China than in Chihuahua.

Second, I get the impression that many sports columnists want to be the next Paul Krugman (i.e. get paid to write liberal editorial claptrap). This issue has a slim nexus with the sports world, but it's enough to give a number of sportswriters an excuse to introduce their politics into their regular columns. Here's one example, and here's another. I will note in both cases that the authors make incorrect statements about the content of the bill. They should stick to sports.