This week’s readings are topically distinct, focusing on the process of border militarization, racial construction, and explaining floor votes, respectively. One thread I’ve noticed through this week, though, is that there doesn’t seem to be a direct line from voter preferences to Congressional floor votes to real-world outcomes; partisan politics and industry lobbying seem more relevant when explaining outcomes. Casellas and Leal (2013) find party to be the best explainer, and Massey’s article (and lecture) suggest[s] the prison-industrial complex may have had more influence on border policy than a careful analysis of the expected outcomes.

This FiveThirtyEight article from today (Wednesday) discusses the Trump Administration’s legal battles with the courts over sanctuary cities. The main point is that it is still politically advantageous for the President to fight losing policy battles because such fights are a signal to his base. The article details other occasions where this calculus has played out.

Thinking about political battles this way puts the whole border wall battle in a new perspective for me, and makes me wonder: is it all about signaling? (This applies for both parties.) More generally, under a paradigm where partisanship dominates floor votes (suggesting issues all cluster together), where is the line from constituents’ preferences to Congressional votes? How can we disentangle the various mechanisms in such a polarized environment?