Posted on 02/14/2005 9:56:21 AM PST by atomic_dog
If a Republican politician is uncommonly good on both economics and social issues, he will probably be terrible on immigration.
It’s an unfortunate fact of political life that’s taken me some time to get used to, but here it is: If a Republican politician is uncommonly good on both economics and social issues, he will probably be terrible on immigration. Think Dick Armey, Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake and Jack Kemp in his better days. All strong economic and social conservatives; all weak on immigration control.
And that’s just conservative Republicans. Moderate to liberal Republicans tend to be even worse. Flake’s guest-workers program, one of the pieces of legislation floating around that corresponds fairly closely with the Bush administration’s amnesty-light proposal, is co-sponsored by his fellow Arizona Republicans Senator John McCain and Representative Jim Kolbe. While there are many honorable exceptions, the GOP as a whole has been useless, and sometimes pernicious, on immigration.
Yet most rank-and-file Republican voters take a more sensible position. They believe that immigration should be legal and controlled, occurring at a manageable level accompanied by assimilation. They are receptive to immigrants who actually intend to give their allegiance to America, but don’t see any need to import poverty, cultural balkanization and sociopolitical fragmentation.
In other words, the GOP’s grassroots conservative base approaches immigration with different motives than the cheap-labor lobby, transnational progressives, multiculturalists -- and many of the Republican candidates they end up voting for. This discontinuity between the party’s leadership and its voters has only gotten worse under George W. Bush, who has maintained a stubborn infatuation with the idea of offering “temporary” worker status to millions of illegal aliens and extending that status to an apparently limitless number of willing foreign workers all over the world -- only after their prospective U.S. employers have verified that the jobs they’re being offered are of the kind that Americans just won’t do, of course.
There is much that can be said for Karl Rove’s political acumen. His grassroots turnout strategies in the 2004 campaign certainly paid off. But immigration, an issue Rove seems to mistakenly see as the key to a Hispanic Republican majority, is testing the Architect’s limits. Republicans with their ears closer to the ground -- and the conservative grassroots -- don’t see amnesty and guest workers as winning political issues.
According to a Washington Post report last week, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay distanced himself slightly from the president on immigration reform. DeLay’s proposal wasn’t much better. He would offer illegal aliens guest-worker status, but only if they go home first. It doesn’t benefit lawbreakers as much as Bush’s version, but many current illegals would probably still see their status regularized after a visit back home and overall it would increase immigration. In the New York Times account, the Republican leader suggests it as a possible modification of the White House proposal.
DeLay’s arm-twisting tactics may have earned him the nickname the Hammer, but he also has a good read on the House Republican Conference. If he is suggesting compromise, it is a good indication that the President’s immigration-liberalization plan cannot pass as presently outlined, because it lacks GOP support.
Rush Limbaugh, as attentive to the opinion trends of right-of-center Americans as any commentator, has also spoken of a grassroots revolt against the party establishment on immigration. In late January, he warned that the President’s approach to the issue jeopardized his initiatives on Social Security and tax reform. Limbaugh went further to contend that porous borders threatened our national sovereignty and the electoral coalition that supports the Republican Party.
The latter point was also made in a National Review cover story at the end of last year, written by David Frum rather than one of the magazine’s usual immigration restrictionists. “There's no issue where the beliefs and interests of the party rank-and-file diverge more radically from the beliefs and interests of the party's leaders,” Frum wrote. “Immigration for Republicans in 2005 is what crime was for Democrats in 1965 or abortion in 1975: a vulnerable point at which a strong-minded opponent could drive a wedge that would shatter the GOP.”
Even voices on the Wall Street Journal editorial page have taken notice. In an Opinion Journal column following Limbaugh’s volley, John Fund urged “measures to address the legitimate concerns of Americans who worry the federal government has completely lost control of the borders.” While he mainly criticized serious immigration reforms and downplayed the electoral clout of restrictionists, Fund implicitly acknowledged the gap between the GOP’s elites and the voters they need to remain in power.
The immigration debate has become the latest struggle for the soul of the GOP, with the party’s majorities potentially hanging in the balance. Time will tell whose lead Republican officeholders decide to follow -- the Hammer or the Architect’s.
The above is where I stopped reading this piece.
Illegal immigration is a issue. We must deal with it.
I am in this to help control/stop illegal immigration. Not to stop immigration in America.
I don't see how any American can be against immigration, but some are. I don't think the quote is a accident. Some have a different agenda than I do. Unfortunately.
Your on and thanks for the info.
Yes- I visited Lucerne last summer.
I also noticed that they enforce their borders, and they require every male citizen to train in the military, and keep an assault rifle in their home.
Personally, I love the Swiss!
Gubamyster is a he. I believe he is also an accountant and is real busy during tax season which is why he usually doesn't post much this time of year. Plus I think he said his wife is having a baby soon, or recently had one.
I was thinking the same thing. JR puts up a thread to calm the waters but a 3,000+ post storm is what happened. I think that planned backfired.
Thats good to hear. I thought he might have gotten the boot.
Ping.
That about says it all right there.
just added to my border ping list
What they see is a way to harvest a bumper crop of votes. In typical Democrat fashion they will take both sides of the issue by pandering to those for whom this is a key issue while running around perverting election law to make it easier for illegals to vote.
"as of last quarter FR had 22,734 registerd members"
Those are only the ones that have designated a state on their home page.
There are over 195,000 Freeper registrations.
Yeah, but I don't think that the donks can take advantage of this issue without repercussions from various other factions within their party. The GOP is best positioned to take advantage, and IMHO, can only lose by being tone-deaf in this issue.
Since any citizens of any state is a citizen of the US and can move to other states, this is not a state issue.
BTTT
bttt
Oh, TXBS, you have been added to the ping list of Free Republic members who put sovereignty over profits, nationalism over one-worldism and the rule of law over creeping corruption.
Your shame will be plain for all to see as you defend right over wrong - the ridicule will ring loudly when you respond to race-baiters with (un)common sense. Should you fall into a trap of obfuscation or distortion our help can't always be depended upon (almost everyone here against illegal immigration works for a living). All is not gloomy: once your sensibilities get nicely calloused up you'll be giving foreign-bought pencil-necks their fair share and, unlike them, will be able to fall asleep at night knowing you worked to preserve your nation, not undermine it.
Just save a little for the rest of us.
So let it be written. So let it be done.
Gotcha. Chinese interesting times, these. I still believe good wins out over evil.
oops..I see slagathor has been nuked... I joined this party too late...hehehehe.
Ciao
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