Van Jones, MoveOn, and a host of other groups [1] have teamed up to offer the "Contract for the American Dream", which consists of "10 Critical Steps to Get Our Economy Back on Track" (contract.rebuildthedream.com).

There are no doubt many reasons why it's a sham if not an outright scam, but let me describe just one reason. And, it's such a major reason that it renders the rest of their plan worthless and shows why you can't trust their plan. They're either delusional, not that bright, or they're corrupt.

Because, Van Jones and friends want to combine massively increasing the welfare state with massive immigration, something that just is not going to work. Not only that, but Van Jones et al would add millions of new legal workers to the labor supply despite the fact that millions of Americans are already having trouble finding jobs.

One of their 10 Steps includes this: "Immigrants who want to join in our democracy deserve a clear path to citizenship." Translating that from their intentionally misleading language [2], that means they want comprehensive immigration reform, aka amnesty. That amnesty would beget yet another amnesty down the line, as the newly-legalized former illegal aliens encouraged their friends and distant family to come here by any means necessary in expectation of that other amnesty. And, the newly-legalized would use their political power to push for more immigration and for future amnesties.

Most of those in that new wave of immigration wouldn't be coming here specifically to get on the dole, but they would definitely take full advantage of the increased welfare state the Van Jones et al propose. And, because most of those coming here would be low-skilled and low wage earners, it would lead to swamping that generous welfare state. For instance, it already costs around eight thousand dollars per year to educate one public school student, depending on the state. Someone who's only earning $30,000 or $40,000 per year isn't going to be able to pay for even a fraction of that amount. Van Jones and friends would increase spending per student, at the same time as increasing the number of low wage earners in the U.S.

All of that is a recipe for disaster. If you want a massive welfare state, you have to control immigration and make sure that you have enough high wage earners to support low wage earners. If you want loose borders, you need to cut back on the welfare state. You can't have both.

It's like building a Green Energy house and then not putting a door in the doorway. Sure, you can open the door frequently, but you have to leave it closed most of the time otherwise you'll end up trying to heat or cool the whole neighborhood.

But, wait, there's more. Not only would they swamp the massive welfare state they want to build, but they'd add millions of new legal workers to the labor supply, greatly increasing competition for already-scarce jobs. See immigration wage floor for a discussion.

I certainly don't know why Van Jones and friends think that massive immigration to a massive welfare state would work: they might be delusional, or they might just be stupid, or they might be corrupt, or some combination. Personally, I think it's just that they're corrupt: obtaining political power via massive immigration is far more important to them than actually trying to solve the problems the U.S. has.

Contact them and let them know what you think, starting with: @RebuildDream and @VanJones68.

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[1] Others involve include (see each link for past coverage) Change to Win, Demos, Campaign for Americas Future, Planned Parenthood, the Center for American Progress' Campus Progress, AFSCME, Brave New Foundation (Brave New Films), Sierra Club, Progressive States Network, Code Pink, Economic Policy Institute, DailyKos, People for the American Way, Center for Economic and Policy Research CEPR, and the Institute for Policy Studies. There are several more listed on their site.

[2] Someone who's an actual "immigrant" (i.e., of the legal variety) already has a "clear path to citizenship". The ones who don't have that "clear path" are illegal aliens. Thus, they're trying to mislead by pretending that illegal aliens are "immigrants", when they aren't.