What's the Biden record on freedom of movement?
And where do we draw the line between settling for scraps and letting the perfect be the enemy of the good?
More Progressive - but not more liberal - than expected
President Joseph Biden entered the 2020 presidential field and was immediately, for better and worse, identified as the ‘establishment’, ‘centrist’ candidate of the major candidates with a real chance at winning. There description was not inaccurate, especially compared to the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren - next to the charismatic socialist and the scholarly progressive, Biden indeed seemed to lack much a real political shape except for a tendency to the center. However, his presidency has shown this characterization miss the mark to some extent - while not representing the left wing of the party by any stretch, Biden does throw back to one of its progressive factions: that of the union and working class vote. While this has created some welcome surprises in areas like monopoly regulation and labor law, it comes with it a set of policies that are not exactly centrist, but certainly depart in important ways from liberalism. One is trade - Biden has not reverted to the free trade orthodoxy that led the Clinton and Obama Democratic party, maintaining ‘Buy America’ and other protectionist policies. Another, unfortunately, is freedom of movement: a primary election that saw serious proposals to decriminalize border crossing has given way to a presidential administration which has introduced little sweeping change.
The president’s defenders - and contrary to media reports, he has many! - would point out that Biden is working against a particularly powerful nativist tide, and that he has made real progress in spite of it, to the extent that progress is possible within the constraints of our electorate. I of course have been strongly of the opinion that Liberals needs to be full throated in defense of immigration as a positive good. However, there is a difference between a politician and an activist, though this can be difficult to remember. Henry George, in his work Protection or Free Trade , defined the different duties in this way:
The advocates of a great principle should know no thought of compromise. They should proclaim it in its fullness, and point to its complete attainment as their goal But the zeal of the propagandist needs to be supplemented by the skill of the politician. While the one need not fear to arouse opposition, the other should seek to minimize resistance. The political art, like the military art, consists in massing the greatest force against the point of least resistance ; and, to bring a principle most quickly and effectively into practical politics, the measure which presents it should be so moderate as (while involving the principle) to secure the largest support and excite the least resistance.
I take this as a fair guide to what to expect, and not, from a politician. Biden cannot be expected to come out in favor of open borders. The question then is - has he been successful at pushing against those areas of the immigration system where there is the least resistance? An investigation into the record reveals a somewhat qualified positive response to this question.
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