TLP Weekend Edition (September 27-28, 2025)
What we're reading and checking out.
🇺🇸 “Shutdowns and Filibusters,” by Matt Glassman. Shutdown-palooza! On his Substack, Matt Glassman lucidly explains the possible paths here and what, if any, method there might be to the Democrats’ madness.
I really have no idea what is going to happen in the next two weeks. The logic of coalition management and the pressure on minority leader Schumer has me thinking that a shutdown is more likely than I did a few weeks ago. A lot of Democrats have shifted their philosophical views about shutdowns. And there really does seem to be a drive to “fight” or “do something” even if it’s counterproductive in the end. Is that enough to sum to a shutdown?
I really don’t know.
What I do know that clarity about what you are trying to do is a prerequisite for smart decision-making, and if the Democrats are serious about causing a shutdown, they should have some clarity of mind about what their goals are, how they are going to achieve them, and how they are going to revise their thinking if nothing goes according to plan. I don’t really see any of that right now. Schumer and Jeffries are talking pretty tough about the House bill, but that’s the easy part. What Schumer does when he’s on the spot in the Senate is the only important question.
And all this is perhaps the hidden reason they should try to avoid a shutdown. There’s little chance they will be able to come up with a unified message that satisfies the various factions of the party and doesn’t create intense pressure and strife internally and among the various external party-aligned interests. Whatever the value of coalition maintenance in the Senate is for Schumer, there’s a distinct possibility that the result of shutdown is going to be a more general coalition chaos during and afterwards. Yes, they will have “done something.” But it’s very easy to see that many of them will quickly regret it.
♾️ “Infinity Is the Wrong Number of Immigrants: Common-sense immigration policy begins with a willingness to look at hard data instead of propaganda from self-interested lobbyists,” by Michael Lind. In Tablet, TLP friend Michael Lind takes on every argument offered up by the open immigration lobby, finding them all suspect.
If we are to believe the propaganda of employers in tech and agriculture and hospitality and other fields, as well as universities, landlords and real-estate developers, ethnic advocacy NGOs, and the political party favored by immigrant voters, the Democrats, there should be no limits on the number of foreign nationals eligible to immigrate to the United States and become citizens. That’s because each of these special-interest groups benefits from mass immigration and has no reason ever to support any caps on the kind of immigration from which it profits.
Tech companies want more H-1B indentured cubicle workers who are willing to work for less pay and are more subservient to their bosses than American citizens.
Agribusiness companies want more indentured foreign serfs to labor in the fields, as an alternative to raising wages to attract American workers or investing in labor-saving machinery.
Universities seek to expand their budgets and hire more administrators, instructors, and research assistants by enrolling more foreign students to pay their bills.
Landlords and real-estate developers want immigrants to repopulate the big cities and the small towns that Americans are leaving.
Ethnic advocacy groups want to increase their political influence by increasing the size of the immigrant ethnic diasporas they claim to represent.
If you think of the United States as a nation-state, not a labor camp, then you do not have to be a xenophobic nativist to think that huge influxes of mostly impoverished and poorly educated people might polarize our politics and immiserate everyone except the very rich.
Democratic Party strategists hope to create a permanent one-party Democratic majority by enlarging their coalition of college-educated whites and nonwhite voters with the addition of immigrants, who tend to prefer Democrats to Republicans and can vote once they obtain citizenship—and perhaps, in some cases, can vote illegally without being citizens (why else do Democrats oppose voter ID laws of the kinds common in other democracies?).
Asked how many immigrants America needs, each of these selfish interest groups and industries naturally answers, “More!” If the annual number of legal immigrants were doubled tomorrow, the same institutions and interests would be wailing about shortages and demanding further increases. So it is no exaggeration to say that the ideal number of immigrants for many, if not the most, powerful institutions in American society is infinity.
Read the entire thing to see Lind’s arguments about immigration and economic growth, productivity, unfilled jobs, Social Security/Medicare solvency, and population decline.
☠️ “This polarization is poisonous. But there are partial victories,” by Fareed Zakaria. In unsettled times like today, it’s easy to become despondent about the country’s future—to look ahead with a sense of resignation that Americans are hopelessly divided and will never come together for our collective betterment. But as The Washington Post’s Fareed Zakaria reminds us, that dismal view of American society isn’t accurate; in fact, most people are not wholly progressive or wholly conservative or unwilling to look for common ground.
Liberal democracy is founded on the faith that we can find ways to compromise on almost anything. Indeed, we must—especially on these hot-button cultural topics. And if you look beyond the screaming voices in Washington and on social media, Americans are quietly finding ways to compromise on a variety of issues.
With abortion now a matter left to the states, legislators in each have negotiated widely varying standards on such issues as gestational limits and parental consent. Gay rights have been accepted more broadly even on the right, where they were once totally taboo. Democratic mayors have accepted some conservative critiques on the issue of homelessness: San Francisco, for example, has embraced new ways to limit homeless encampments.
On immigration, people are recognizing alternate aspects of the problem: There is now a broader consensus that the asylum policy has failed and needs to be reworked. At the same time, much of the public clearly disapproves of brutal and cruel deportations of people who have been law-abiding, taxpaying workers in the country for decades.
This is a nation of 340 million people who have differing views on many, many things. We have to find a way to accept partial victories, half measures, and brokered compromises. No one in Washington dare say this, for fear that they will be lambasted by their base and by the vigilantes on social media, but perhaps it is a mark of some small progress that, day by day, in state after state, in small ways, we are actually doing it.
⚽️ Crystal Palace vs. Liverpool, at Selhurst Park. Defending EPL champions Liverpool and Community Shield winners Crystal Palace are the only two undefeated teams remaining this season. But, as The Athletic notes, “After 10 consecutive wins over Palace between August 2017 and January 2022, Liverpool have only won two of their past seven meetings (and both by a single goal). This will be a real test for the league leaders.” The teams face off Saturday at 10AM EDT from Selhurst Park, London, streaming on Peacock.
Bonus listening for Liverpool fans: Walk On is a seriously fun and funny podcast from The Athletic FC.
🕺🏼 Dance Called Memory, by Nation of Language. The kids these days love the post-punk and synth sounds from the ‘80s, and this young trio from NYC are among the best at turning a beloved old-school sound into something new. NOL’s previous album, Strange Disciple, was one of our favorites from 2023, and this latest record is another treat.
Check out “In Another Life” from KEXP’s studio, and catch Nation of Language live this fall if you can.
Programming note: Please watch (or attend) Ruy’s event at AEI on Monday, September 29, 2025, at 11AM EDT, “What Robert F. Kennedy’s Liberal Patriotism Could Teach Political Leaders Today,” featuring his new report with Rick Kahlenberg on Kennedy’s liberal patriotism. They will present their report’s findings and discuss political implications with Will Marshall, president of PPI and Robert Doar, president of AEI.
Shutdown drama is more evidence that the Democratic Party problem is the activist base and not the leadership. Schumer compromised the last time and got beat up by The Groups. He is not exactly inspiring and perhaps lacks courage but he is in the Center Left mode preferred by TLP. Where are all those moderates? I suppose it would take a Presidential candidate to rally them but who?
Democrats need to campaign like hell that, the next time they are in power, they will eliminate the filibuster once and for all. We're the only OECD country with this absurd problem. If no budget is passed, operations should continue under the previous year's budget with a universal COLA for all programs based on the 52-week T-Bill interest rate.
And, for God's sake get rid of unconstitutional 60-vote cloture. Pass a resolution eliminating it the day before Congress is seated after the next midterm election. That way everyone can campaign on it, and We The People can decide whom We want in power the day after it ends.