Department of Road Safety and Demagoguery

If one were to compile a list of all the issues in which elite – and, er, libertarian – opinion is most completely out of touch with “ordinary” people’s concerns, there’s a more than decent chance immigration would be at the top of the list. As Garance reports from Iowa, it may also be the last issue with which Republicans can credibly thrash Democrats. People (like me) in Washington are relaxed about immigration – including illegal immigration – but that’s not true in the mid-west, to say nothing of the south or parts of the south-west.

Which is why the question of drivers licenses for illegal immigrants is a topic that is not likely to go away any time soon. It doesn’t take much imagination to consider how popular it will be with talk radio. At a basic level – as Chris Dodd pointed out – there’s a question of what people perceive as “fairness” and “privilege”.