A rarity for Gov. Bush: Simple logic wins out over party policy
By HOWARD TROXLER
Published April 15, 2004
The governor of Florida, more even than most politicians, hates to have his motives analyzed.
He denies that politics ever enter into his actions. He is lily-pure. Whatever he does, it is simply "the right thing to do."
And yet, it is delicious, even irresistible, to delve into the reasons behind Jeb Bush's surprising proposal to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens in Florida.
It is surprising, because for an otherwise conservative, law-and-order kind of guy, Bush is flying in the face of (1) his own Republican Party, (2) majority public opinion in an election year and (3) our post-9/11 sensibilities.
In sum, Jeb has ticked off almost everybody.
Why?
It is natural to think first of election-year politics. Some argue the idea is a sop to Hispanic or Latino voters, who are U.S. citizens, but who might have relatives affected, or who are just more sensitive to the issue.
According to the 2000 Census, Florida has about 2.7-million residents of Hispanic or Latino origin. Of those, 833,120 were of Cuban descent. The rest fell into these major groups: Puerto Rican, Mexican, Central American, South American and Spanish-American.
There were 363,925 residents of Mexican heritage alone. Although the numbers are not further broken down, you can bet that a large percentage are citizens, eligible to vote, and tuned in to this issue. Earlier this year, as it just so happens, Bush also proposed a plan for improving farm worker conditions.
Would the governor really chase such a small slice of voters at the risk of widespread disapproval? Well, remember that the 2000 presidential election in Florida was decided by a little more than 500 votes. So, sure.
Besides, how has he hurt himself? Are any offended Republicans suddenly going to vote for John Kerry now? No. Neither will many Democrats slap their forehead and declare, "I was leaning toward W., but this pandering to disadvantaged minorities really turns me off."
There is a second theory about the governor's proposal, but Jeb is bound to hate it even more, because it psychoanalyzes him. He, of all the Bush clan, has the most exposure to how different people live.
He is the Bush who traveled as an exchange student, married a woman of Mexican heritage, brought her home to his Yalie white-bread family, and produced the children so famously described by his father, the first President Bush, as "the little brown ones."
He is the one who converted to a different faith. He is the one who knows first-hand what the scourge of addiction and substance abuse can do to a family. He is the one who argued, as a younger, more idealistic thinker, that the future of the Republican Party depended on reaching out to diverse peoples.
Given that context, it is less of a surprise that Jeb Bush might propose giving a break to the people that you and I - yes, us - so hypocritically rely upon for backbreaking, underpaid, inhumane, often dangerous work that Americans consider to be beneath them.
Finally, of course, maybe Bush just thinks his idea is the "right thing to do." His argument is that it's not Florida's job to be the immigration police. But it IS Florida's job to ensure the safety and well-being of Floridians.
Therefore, given that illegal aliens are a fact of life, Florida is entitled to try to make sure they are properly licensed to drive, and properly insured, for the benefit of us all.
You know what I love about the governor's thinking? It is classically and quintessentially ... liberal.
It is liberal as all heck. If Bill Clinton had tried this, then Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter and the whole Fox News apparatus would have ripped the man's innards out for being such a bleeding-heart idiot.
Let us apply the identical logic to the problem of teenage sex. Teens are going to have sex no matter what. But at least we can reduce the problems of unwanted pregnancy and the spread of disease. We should engage in vigorous sex education, and the distribution of condoms and other contraceptives.
To that proposal, a true conservative recoils in horror: That CONDONES the bad activity! It sends the wrong message! It only ENCOURAGES them!
To which I and my new partner in pragmatism, the governor of Florida, would reply: Get real, why don't you?
