[hchutch]

Excellent post.

Let me tell you something, it just stuns me that by raising these questions, we get accused of race-baiting. Like WE are Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. That's bullcrap.

I think we have got valid concerns about some of these groups - it seems John Tanton has his fingers in each of them. And looking at his background, we see ZPG, racist, and pro-choice leanings, to put it bluntly. We have question, we have concerns, and the way it's being dealt with is NOT, in my opinion, a credit to conservatives.

We want to know what the deal is with Tanton. We want the truth about the Pioneer Fund. We want to know why it seems that the known bigotry of Sam Francis and Pat Buchanan, who mouth off on this issue a lot doesn't bother a lot of people. We have questions about privacy and civil liberties. We have questions about enforcability and whether or not maybe we need to loosen things up in certain areas. We wonder if it's wise to deport people here since they were very young kids and who are now going into college.

And for asking these questions (which are legitimate questions), it seems that we're like skunks at some garden picnic or worse. We're accused of race-baiting, or profiting from illegal immigrants, among other things. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have become extremely suspicious of the cultural conservatives. I'm not sure I *want* a cultural consevrative in power, any more. I'd rather have a libertarian-leaning President and a neo-conservative foreign policy. As for culture, I think the government has no business picking winners and losers in economic matters, and I think it goes even more so for in cultural matters.

By feeling that way, am I still conservative? I don't want to stay where I am not wanted.

[Fatalis]

And for asking these questions (which are legitimate questions),

Is David Frum now part of the John Tanton conspiracy? I'm trying to keep track.

[AndyJackson]

I have become extremely suspicious of the cultural conservatives....We have questions about privacy and civil liberties. We have questions about enforcability and whether or not maybe we need to loosen things up in certain areas. We wonder if it's wise to deport people here since they were very young kids and who are now going into college.

You also realize that a lot of these folks are Catholics!

[Torie]

There are indeed some very thoughtful and well written posts on this thread. Giving all the competing considerations, and the relatively high stakes, getting immigration policy just right isn't easy - it's at least as tough as sailing the Magellan Straits in winter. We need to have the hyperbolic howling on both sides abate in order to have a chance of making it through.

[BlackElk]

Yours is an excellent post as well. I expected Sam Francis whose day job is editing a newspaper for the "Conservative Citizens' Council" (nee White Citizens' Council). Buchanan really ought to have known better. Worse yet, Buchanan finds himself in ideological league with the lavender legend of limpwrist/pantywaist foreign policy: Justin Raimondo of antiwar.com.

You are still a conservative. So am I. I am not changing and I hope you don't either.

[Once-Ler]

Thanx hchutch for the ping and thanx BlackElk for a thoughtful post. You have summed up my thoughts on this issue better than I could.