The Conservative Cat

A good recent example of this principle is immigration reform. Conservatives such as Laura Ingraham want the Mexican border secured, but President Bush insists any such action must be part of a comprehensive package that includes allowing current illegal aliens a way to become legal workers.

We tried the comprehensive thing back in 1986, and if that had worked, we wouldn't be talking about reform again.

The Comprehensive Reform trick, however, has a much longer and richer history than that. When Al Gore was caught violating campaign finance laws, Gore and other Democrats said what we really needed was comprehensive campaign finance reform. It's like a bank robber saying that instead of sending him to jail we should consider changing the banking laws.

Similarly, when it's time to balance the budget, spending cuts must always be part of a comprehensive package that includes tax increases. Oddly enough, the tax increases come immediately and the spending cuts are part of a five-year plan that is thrown out the window when the next budget is drawn up.

So, don't get fooled by this trick. If spending cuts, obeying the law, and border security are good ideas, they're no better when we package them with a lot of bad ideas. The people talking about comprehensive reform don't really care about your issues, they're just trying to scam you into supporting theirs.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat