Assumptions

I have been watching coverage of the response to the attacks in Paris and found a new reason to deplore the state of politics.  In the US there is a new piece of legislation coming through that would pretty much stop any immigration from Syria as it would impose unreasonable and pointless restrictions on anyone coming from there to the US.  It has been passed by Congress with enough support from both parties that Obama is not able to veto it.

The part that really stuck with me though was the way it was described in the news.  Republicans were assumed to be totally behind the new rules, because obviously they want irrational government restrictions that serve no purpose because they cement their racist credentials.  That was something the press clearly assumed as a given.  However, reports also mentioned that Democrats supported the legislation because after all it is an election year and they have to worry about being reelected.

Because obviously politicians of both parties vote for awful things just to establish how bigoted they are to the populace.  Winning votes requires such posturing.

Is it worse that everyone assumes that the US population demands such things, or that everyone knows that when an election is coming nobody even pays attention to what the things they are voting for actually do?  That such failures of governance aren't even worth remarking upon is depressing.

Canada, thankfully, is on a different track.  We are going to take in a bunch of those refugees, and we will reap the eventual rewards.  One small reason to celebrate.