Coughing Up Points: The Failure of the Wisconsin State Senate to Enact Meaningful Reform

Today, Wisconsin Democrats (namely Tim Carpenter) committed a blunder of epic proportions. In football, the paradigmatic blunder is a fumble. Here however, what Carpenter did was tantamount to a player deliberately running the football in the opposite direction and scoring in his own end zone; he's purposely hurting his own state. Ouch.

Carpenter and other WI Democrats removed a provision in the state budget that would have created meaningful reform by allowing undocumented immigrants to attain driver's certificates. And while Carpenter just as appallingly removed an in-state tuition provision for undocumented students, this post focuses on the driving issue.

The argument against granting undocumented migrants the opportunity to drive has always baffled me. I've searched for a reason that isn't tinged with malice for why lawmakers would oppose granting driver's certificates to undocumented migrants. I really have. But alas, nothing has come to mind.

First, I thought about the oft-argued zero sum rationale for denying undocumented immigrants certain benefits (e.g. in-state tuition): that a benefit to an immigrant is a detriment to a U.S. citizen. But that just doesn't seem to make sense in this case. How would that argument go?

"By giving that lousy immigrant the opportunity to drive, you're taking away my ability to drive!"

You don't need to be a Rhodes Scholar to understand that such an argument is absolutely fallacious. So, if the zero sum rationale doesn't work here, what other reason(s) could Mr. Carpenter's large Latino constituency have for not wanting undocumented migrants to drive? (As Mr. Carpenter put it, it was his Latino constituency that was strongly opposed to the driving measures)

Perhaps the answer lies in Wisconsin history. Maybe Wisconsin has always refused to allow undocumented immigrants the opportunity to drive. No, that can't be it. Up until recently, Wisconsin allowed those without social security numbers (read undocumented immigrants) to apply for a Wisconsin driver's license; not a driving certificate, but an actual driver's license.

Might an environmental argument yield an answer? Perhaps it was the concern for the influx of cars on the road that would ostensibly accompany such a measure that led Mr. Carpenter and his fellow lawmakers to strike it from the budget. But that argumentation would also require denying driving privileges to the thousands of newly-minted teenage drivers that hit the road each year. Again, that's not a plausible answer.

Maybe I should just be resigned to the fact that Mr. Carpenter and his colleagues simply don't want "illegal" drivers on the road. Never mind the fact that it would strengthen state security by allowing state officials to know who is driving. For many undocumented immigrants (and for citizens for that matter), driving is a necessity. Never mind the fact that it would put money into the government coffers by creating mandatory fees for applicants. And about creating a situation that would encourage undocumented immigrant drivers with no car insurance to actually get car insurance? Well forget about that too.

Wisconsin failed to seize on the opportunity to enact meaningful reform. I hope Wisconsinians enjoy coughing up six points because that's what your running back, State Senator Tim Carpenter, just did.