Mr. Will is preparing Movement Conservatives for the inevitable: no immigration bill before the elections.

But if Congress fails to pass immigration reform, that will not really deserve to be called a failure, for two reasons. First, the moment may not be ripe for reform, because the country is of two minds -- actually, more than two -- about the issue. Second, the system the Framers created, with two legislative bodies having different dynamics because their constituencies have different characteristics, is in this instance performing approximately as the Framers intended.

Senators, only one-third of whom are ever facing imminent elections, are somewhat insulated by six-year terms from the public's fevers. And senators represent larger, less homogenous, more complex constituencies than most House members do.

He says no immigration bill would be no tragedy. Curiously, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights agrees with Mr. Will.

Totally different reasons, of course.