A few weeks ago, there was a popular post in my corner of politics Tumblr (I reblogged it myself!) encouraging people to be better at recognizing normative statements, that is, slogans that call for what should be, not what is or has been.
I am not a great fan of infighting on the broad left - at this point literally anyone who is not a fascist is welcome to die on these hills and make the fascists die on theirs - but it must be admitted that "Accept this as a normative statement" is usually asked of the farther left by the more central left. (Not the actual "centrists," who are too politically incoherent to count as left-leaning.) Today, I am asking for the inverse.
In particular, with Noem getting fired, some people are responding to the gleeful cheers of "Next, abolish ICE" and "Next, abolish DHS" with "That's not realistic."
I think abolishing ICE is becoming increasingly realistic! More importantly, the problems go far beyond ICE - some of the most appalling crimes have come from Customs and Border Patrol personnel who have worked as part of DHS for years - so I've got my "Abolish DHS" banner flying. How likely is it that we're going to be able to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security for parts and distribute anything of true social value into a separate agency (keeping in mind numerous preexisting agencies were incorporated to make DHS in the first place)?
It's not likely likely. But shoot for the moon; if you miss, you might still ensure Stephen Miller dies feeling like his life has been lived for nothing. So "Abolish DHS" is my normative statement and I'm going to keep saying it. And the more we say it, the riskier DHS's position will be.
