Rod Dreher has been dwelling too much in the last week or so on dubious stories (or are they just stories of a sort about which I’ve reached my psychic limit?), but I think he’s got this one right:

I do not like Ted Cruz, no I don’t, don’t, don’t. But he made a good point last night, highlighted in his answer on immigration:

What was said was right, the Democrats are laughing because if Republicans join Democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose. And you know, I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn’t often see it as an economic issue. But I can tell you for millions of Americans at home, watching this, it is a very personal economic issue. And I will say the politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande. Or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press. Then we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation ….

(Citing National Review, emphasis added by Dreher)

As long as the plutocrats are in charge, and Americans aren’t willing to work for a pittance, all the immigration reform talk in the world is just blather. Cruz gets that, at least as polyvalent political polemics.

It’s the new version of supply and demand: demand more wages and benefits than we’ve budgeted and we’ll supply immigrants who’ll demand less.

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“The remarks made in this essay do not represent scholarly research. They are intended as topical stimulations for conversation among intelligent and informed people.” (Gerhart Niemeyer)

Some succinct standing advice on recurring themes.