Posted on 03/31/2006 3:41:14 AM PST by pageonetoo
As Congress battles over immigration, the consequences are likely to be far greater than the details of border walls or green cards. The most important political outcome may turn out to be the message that Republicans send about the kind of the party they are and hope to be.
To wit, do Republicans want to continue in the Reagan tradition of American optimism and faith in assimilation that sends a message of inclusiveness to all races? Or will they take another one of their historical detours into a cramped, exclusionary policy that tells millions of new immigrants, and especially Hispanics, that they belong somewhere else?...
...The immediate danger is that Republicans will ignore their longer-term interests by passing a punitive, and poll-driven, anti-immigration bill this election year. Any bill that merely harasses immigrants and employers, and stacks more cops on the border, may win cheers in the right-wing blogosphere. However, it will do nothing to address the economic incentives that will continue to exist for poor migrants to come to America to feed their families. And it will make permanent enemies of millions of Hispanics, without doing anything to draw illegals out of the shadows and help them assimilate into the mainstream of American culture and citizenship.
This is not Ronald Reagan's view of America as a "shining city on a hill." It is the chauvinist conservatism usually associated with the European right. How Republicans conduct and conclude their immigration debate will show the country which kind of "conservative" party they want to be.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Here's the new flag that needs hoisting.
Dane, I don't talk to thieves and traitors like you.
The open borders elitists of the WSJ at it again.
Not only that, the RINO Rockefellers are perfectly content to let the muddle-class bafoons subsidize their cooks, house keepers and that real cute nanny from San Salvador...
sw
...but, but some of them held a rally and some of the protestors waived Mexican flags. Surely this means that the 20+ million hispanics who came to this country to live a better life represent an immanent threat to our sovereignty. /s
Shills for the President and the elites of both parties.
Why does everyone think it is the House that is going to be hurt, most of the Republican Congress members have gone on record as supporting deportation.
It is the Senate that may lose a few seats, because they are not listening, not the House.
How do we prevent this hostile takeover from becoming a reality?
If the GOP becomes the party of Tom Tancredo, it's no longer the party for me.
Ronald Reagan had respect for the rule of law. He had that 1986 amnesty forced down his throat by a Liberal Democrat congress.
Bush doesn't have that excuse!
Go, Tancredo, Go!
'Inclusiveness' carried to its logical extreme.
Just how many illegal aliens does the WSJ think America can handle? The twenty million plus we have now?
The 50 millions more that will come if they succeed in passing another disastrous amnesty now?
100 million?
A billion?
Everyone left on the planet?
The LP lost what support I had for it, when they advocated surrendering to Bin Laden.
The writer's language gives him away: He's an anti-conservative elitist.
'Inclusiveness'?
'Migrants'?
'Chauvinist conservatism'?
Sheesh...
What do you have against Tom T., my friend?
You haven't been listening to the slander of his enemies, have you?
Well, actually, they do.
There can be no sovereignty without borders.
This election will be the last chance for the GOP to be the vehicle to do so. If the Party of Money succeeds in forcing an open borders, outsourcing, corporate RINO on us, then we will have no choice but to go third party.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.