It is certainly apropos that the AI uses immigration reform as its example of political gridlock. At its core, there are two reasons why we can't get meaningful immigration reform.
1) I think this is what the AI meant by "governance driven by electoral strategy rather than problem-solving." Both parties run on this as an issue. Which, sadly, means they are somewhat disincentivized to actually solve it. But, in all fairness, obviously even the rhetoric is completely different. At least the dems say "Hey, we need legitimate immigration reform. This is a huge issue and it needs to be addressed." While the republicans say "THE COUNTRY IS BEING INVADED!! THEY'RE BRINGING CRIME AND DRUGS AND PROBABLY SUPER-HERPES!!!" So one side at least acknowledges it's a problem, while the other side just drums up fear of others. Unfortunately, it's a time-tested strategy to get votes.
Hell, there was a bi-partisan deal in place in 2024, but trump told congressional republicans to vote against it, because he was running on immigration. Helpful!
2) It's really fucking hard. Duh. That's the "problem" when you have a great place. People want to come here. Not just for a better life for themselves, but more importantly they want a better life for their children. And they are willing to work their asses off for it because, unlike most Americans, they don't take this country for granted. But how do you handle the roughly 7,000 people looking to immigrate here each day? You'd have to hire hundreds, if not thousands, more immigration judges and lawyers. And there you go, bloating the bureaucracy again.
So, yeah, finding a solution is difficult, to say the least. Even if politicians were truly motivated to do so.
Alright, here's a tangent that I want to delve into, and this seems like as good a spot as any. We elect politicians to sometimes make very, very difficult decisions on our behalf. A good example that I mentioned above is infrastructure. I don't think anyone would deny we have a SERIOUS infrastructure problem in this country. I found this:
Where is that money going to come from? A lot of this is at the local level, and how many municipalities have extra money sitting around to repair aging infrastructure? Nobody wants to raise taxes and/or reduce services. (Ok, the current administration has no issue with reducing services, as long as the wealthy don't rely on them. Speaking of administrations, notice which administration at least TRIED to address the issue in 2021. Meanwhile, we're still waiting on trump's "Infrastructure Week." Yeah, remember that from his first term? It became a running joke.)
But, generally speaking, politicians who try to do the right thing end up getting voted out. Because the right thing is often HARD. So the can keeps getting kicked down the road. And the cost to repair our infrastructure keeps going up and up and up....
BTW, that is certainly one argument FOR term limits. If politicians aren't constantly running for reelection, they just might be more likely to make the tough decisions.
One more note on gridlock... as long as political parties are prioritizing not letting "the other side" accomplish anything (again, started by Newt Gingrich) over improving the lives of Americans, we're going to have difficulty moving forward. Shit, remember when Mitch McConnell said the "single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."? Imagine that. The Senate Majority Leader openly stating that their priority was not getting things done for the American people. How the fuck do we move forward with that attitude from our elected officials? And who keeps voting for politicians with that attitude?
Ok, the second part of the subject... institutional distrust. Honestly, I kinda hate the AI response here. Whether certain people want to admit it or not, distrust in electoral integrity is a one-party issue. The facts are that this is an almost completely non-existent issue. Hell, it was hardly a blip on anyone's radar until a certain man-baby whined about losing the 2020 election and claimed it was stolen, despite zero evidence. And, because his followers are truly a cult in every sense of the word, now millions of Americans are convinced electoral integrity is a problem. They're doing everything they can to make voting more difficult for people (minorities, young people, women) who are more likely to vote Democrat. They feel justified, because they believe election fraud is rampant. Again, despite zero actual evidence.
How do you convince people that it's ok to cheat? By convincing them that "the other side" is cheating.
