Bleeding Heart Conservatism!

Gregg Easterbrook comments on the administration's plan to allow illegal workers in the U.S. and contends that the plan should be viewed outside of the election year effects. In fact, he contends that the plan is an act of compassion--an act that would in other eras and under presidents of different political stripe would have been labeled "bleeding heart liberalism". The result is a commentary on media bias.

Had a Democratic president proposed exactly what George W. Bush has proposed for the treatment of illegal immigrant workers, editorialists might have called it bleeding-heart liberalism. Fine! Hearts should bleed for the needy. That commentators have focused instead on political vote-totals analysis, and petty sniping at the Bush plan just tells us how removed contemporary media is from the struggles of the average person, and how little today's upper-middle-class journalist or upper-class political pundit cares about the daily struggles of the people who trim his or her lawn. Set all that aside and focus on what matters: the lives of millions of needy people--millions of the meek--are about to improve.

I have not formed an opinion as to the legitimizing the status of illegal aliens, but I have been very surprised by the fact that President Bush proposed the measure. Personally, I am finding that I am not outright opposed to it--although I want to reserve judgment pending more thought and analysis.