Immigration is THE most important issue of this election. If we lose on it, then NO OTHER ISSUE MATTERS. Why? Because “losing” is defined as: some kind of amnesty. Such an action would bring millions, perhaps tens of millions, of votes to the Dems on a permanent basis (immigrants vote 8-2 for the Dems). Every state would end up with the politics of California...AND WE WILL LOSE ON EVERY OTHER ISSUE THAT WE CARE ABOUT - taxes, abortion, gun control, the budget, marriage, freedom of religion, foreign policy, national defense - you name it, we will lose.
“So, what’s the point?” you may ask. Here it is: Trump, for all of his ideological and personal flaws (and they are many) is the ONLY candidate who is, at the same time, calling for an uber-effective border fence/wall, calling for deportations of illegals, calling for the reversal of birthright citizenship, calling for the elimination of “anchor baby” status and...who can also win because he isn’t afraid to fight. Walker can fight, but he’s squishy on immigration. Cruz can fight, but the Dems and the GOPe hate him, questioning whether he is electable. Trump, OTOH, has attracted many Dems and Indies (yes, partly because he isn’t a doctrinaire conservative). Trump can also finance himself quite well - something that he doesn’t need GOPe help with, thankfully - and no other candidate can say that.
OK, let’s address the “he’s not a doctrinaire conservative” thing: No, he’s not perfect, far from it. However, no one is - even Reagan did things that he campaigned against (though pretty rarely). One thing that Reagan advised was that you never get everything you want in politics - but that if you get 70%, you should take it and run away. More to the point, no less than General George S. Patton, Jr. stated that, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.”
This election is the most important since 1860, and for the same reason: at stake is whether the nation occupying this geographic space will be recognizable to all of us as the nation where we were raised - or not. If we lose on immigration by electing a Dem or the wrong Republican (”wrong” defined as “unwilling to build an effective wall and unwilling to toss out illegals”), then The United States of America is simply OVER, to be replaced by some other entity that we won’t recognize, and which we will hate.
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” - Ronaldus Maximus.
NOW IS THE TIME to fight and protect our nation, to be able to hand a free country to our kids and grandkids. If our messenger or our designated fighter is less than perfect in our eyes...well, that just means that he, we and this Earth are less than perfect. But at least let’s preserve our nation - we can fight over smaller issues later. Also, keep in mind that if Trump does what he has promised to do, then this nation will be a good deal more conservative in 5-10 years - that will do wonders for all of the other issues, and allow us to be more discriminating in our choice of leaders.
That's a big IF to trust to a man who is so flawed and flexible and narcissistic.
I too see this as a terrible tipping point but I do not see Donald Trump as the answer.
Thank you for writing down your thoughts. I appreciate the time and your comments.