Tim Lee had a question about my rambling post on the DREAM Act last Friday:
Hey Adam, I'm not sure I understand your final sentence. When I describe the incrementalism of the DREAM Act's supporters as a game, I don't mean to suggest it's unserious. I think what they're doing is incredibly important and that they've been doing a great job. I simply mean that it has a strong element of strategic calculation: that advocates are deliberately proposing much less than what most of them really want because they think incrementalism will get us to their ideal system faster than proposing comprehensive reform will. It's also true that the DREAM Act will, all by itself, help a large number of deserving kids. And I think that's sufficient reason to vote for it, regardless of what you think of the broader political agenda of the immigration reform groups that are pushing it. I don't think I've ever seen "Friedmanesque" used in this context before. Can you clarify what you mean by it?
I meant "Friedmanesque" in the context of NY Times columnist Tom Friedman constantly wishing for a coalition of "centrists" who espouse his preferred policy positions to come to power and do whatever he wants. I agree with everything Lee says above -- I just meant that the failure to embrace wholly the agenda of a particular group of people who think about politics and policy all day should be seen as a failure of the advocates to properly make their case, not a failure of the masses to perceive the brilliance of their arguments. Obviously, that's not what Lee meant, so my mistake. Lee and I agree that incrementalism is more than just about short-term goals -- by changing the ways people think about things in certain limited circumstances, you move that much closer to winning the bigger argument.
As for where the DREAM Act stands today, Mike Lillis has a great ticktock on how DREAM activists pushed for a House vote precisely because they knew the Senate would have killed the bill if it voted first. It's not at all clear that doing so has changed anything in the Senate, where the legislation's final fate will still be decided.