Jeb Bush? Right Message, Wrong Messenger.

Let it be noted that Jeb Bush deserves
kudos for making sense on the immigration issue. When he
describes coming to the United States illegally in order to
find opportunity as “an act of love, it’s an act of commitment to
your family,” he displays more compassion and decency than any of
the
fence-building border warriors possess in their shriveled,
nativist souls. He also shows a way to a future that may have room
for a Republican Party in a world that looks unlikely to cater to
the preferences of grumpy know-nothings who don’t like cilantro.
But that’s not going to be an enduring or healthy future if it
requires turning a political party into a family project.

Political parties that rely on genetically intermingled talent
pools aren’t signs of a healthy political system. That’s not to say
people should lose the right to pursue political careers just
because they’re related to somebody else who held office. But in a
nation of over 300 million people, surely one of the two
organizations clinging with lamprey-like tenacity to coercive power
can rotate through a few surnames from time to time, if only in its
applications for tenancy in the White House.

Yes, families often develop traditions of “public service” as
one generation passes on a taste to the next for living off of
others without producing anything of value for which people might
willingly pay: Adams, Roosevelt, Taft—and now Bush and Clinton. But
there’s a difference between a family tradition and an actual,
no-bullshit dynasty, and the GOP is drifting close to crossing that
line.

Jeb Bush made waves with his comments because he took a strong
position—one that’s at-odds with the large meathead faction of his
party. It’s also a position that seems to
strike a chord with much of the American public, as
repeated polls reveal. That’s not the only issue that matters
to Americans, but it’s an important one for the GOP.

If other Republicans can sound the same note, maybe their
political party will still be relevant after the Bush family has
moved on to other endeavors.