Arizonans still support SB1070 even after a Judge struck it down, says Rasmussen. [Subscriber content] So do a majority of normal Americans, many of who would like similar laws in their own state.

Rasmussen Reports polling separates out what they call the "Political Class" from normal people. These are people who, like Pauline Kael, don't know anybody who voted for Nixon. Rasmussen says

"The Political Class sharply disagrees with Mainstream voters, however. While 66% of Mainstream voters want individual states to enforce immigration law, an overwhelming 81% of the Political Class want enforcement by the federal government. "[59% Support Arizona Law; 53% Trust States More than Feds To Enforce Immigration Law - Rasmussen Reportsâ„?July 30, 2010]

You may be thinking that one reason they trust states more than the Federal Government is that the states aren't headed by Barack Obama. But Bush was not a lot better. It's a bipartisan problem—the political class in both parties is insulated from immigration.

Sam Francis wrote about a similarly divided poll in 2002:

Probably nothing in public life in recent years shows so clearly the vast differences between how elites and the public at large view mass immigration. It goes far to explain why nothing is ever done to control immigration: The people with power and influence don't regard immigration as a threat.

And indeed, why should they? The main problems that mass immigration brings are not those of terrorism but rather crime, job loss, educational chaos, cultural erosion and language barriers. Those are problems that middle class or working class people have to face every day, not those of the ruling class.

Elites, simply because they can afford to isolate themselves from the impact of these kinds of threats, don't feel them and don't see them even when they look at them. They can move to high-security, crime-free neighborhoods and dump their kids in well-protected private schools.

To them, the main impact of mass immigration is that it creates lots of cute little ethnic restaurants and cute little ethnic nannies that allow the up-scale young parents of the ruling class to dine regularly on Nepalese and Ethiopian cuisine.

As for the ethics of mass immigration, the ruling class has long since convinced itself that "we're a nation of immigrants," "the first universal nation," a "proposition country" or a "credal society" that has a duty to let in anyone who wants to come here, and that anyone who opposes mass immigration is a bigot, a nativist, a xenophobe.

If you live in a small town that is being overrun by illegal immigrants, and pass a law to deal with it, lawyers from ACLU and MALDEF will come in from out of town to sue you, with foundation money.

They'll keep after you with legal challenges until your town has to either give in or go bankrupt.

Then they'll go back home and live in Scarsdale.