FRED BAUER: Republicans Could Win Votes by Opposing Guest-Worker Programs. “As they currently exist, guest-worker programs tend to be a species of crony capitalism in their creation of a caste of workers without full access to the free market. One of the defining features of a guest worker is that she cannot bargain for her labor with the same flexibility and freedom of a legal permanent resident or a U.S. citizen. This disadvantage distorts the free market and undermines the position of the average worker. Guest-worker programs allow the rich and connected to pit worker against worker in order to have an economic race to the bottom. . . . If you support a command-and-control economy run from Washington, the Gang of Eight’s vision for guest-worker programs might make sense. If you believe in the free market, this model is far more troublesome.”