I don't take the border conservatives seriously?
I am a border conservative. Many of the critiques of the agitprop you see around here also are border conservatives.
It's not a contradiction to be for border control and against border propaganda.
You should take seriously the damage border agitprop can do to our cause.
"I don't take the border conservatives seriously?
I am a border conservative. Many of the critiques of the agitprop you see around here also are border conservatives.
It's not a contradiction to be for border control and against border propaganda.
You should take seriously the damage border agitprop can do to our cause."
Then I'm flummoxed.
If you get a robust fence and patrols, and amnesty is taken off the agenda this year, will you or won't you vote for the Republicans in the Fall?
I think most border conservatives will, because then you'll have something to protect. Right now you've got nothing, nil, nada, zilch, empty set from the Republicans. If they give you the biggest thing: an effective fence, and they decouple that from amnesty, won't that be enough of a victory to keep you in the camp (or bring you back into it), for this November?
I think it will be for nearly all Border Conservatives. A party is like a flying wedge - there's a whole gaggle of geese with different interests, all honking at once - the leadership has to keep the wedge pointed in a general direction, and keep the wings of the wedge from flying off. A few months ago, it was the pro-lifers who were waving the bloody shirt during the Miers crisis. They were completely serious, and the President adjusted and gave them Alito. He didn't strike down Roe v. Wade or provoke a constitutional crisis; he just gave them a judge. And that was enough to bring the pro-lifers back into the formation, relieved that their political world didn't end.
I've got to believe that it's the same way with the Border conservatives. You guys are emaciated. You've got nothin', and you don't look to be getting anything either. No wonder many of you are going to walk. And if you do, we all lose - the party collapses electorally. So we've got to give you something, something big and important. We CAN'T give you everything you want, for at least two reasons: (1) We don't have enough power, and (2) a lot of us don't AGREE with everything you want. Mass deportations? That's too much. Moderate Republicans will start getting stubborn if the party goes that far.
But a FENCE and border enforcement, and NOT giving amnesty?
Well, that's doable. That doesn't shock anybody's conscience. That's an Alito move: a real victory for you, without losing some other wing of the party.
I don't know who would be putting out agitprop. The Border conservatives I hear are pretty sincere. Well, so am I. I don't like the idea of turning loose the cops to rip every illegal out of the country, because I think illegals are hardworking people who do a lot of necessary jobs, I think it's cruel, and I think that turning loose the authorities to perform an anal exam on private business in the USA is a bad idea, even if it is to enforce the immigration laws. Also, I think that Latinos help move the abortion issue towards abolition much more rapidly than native-born whites and blacks do. That's not agitprop - those are genuine moral, political and ethical considerations that are every bit as sincere as yours. I am not willing to give you everything you want on the border, and if things go so far as mass investigations of Americans to see who has ever hired an illegal, and mass deportations of illegals, well, then I am headed for the exit myself.
So, we can't come to FULL agreement on this issue, because we have different moral views of the world.
BUT we can still save the Republican Party, because I understand your concerns and see your fears. And I see that the flood across the border has to be stopped. I think that if we cut that flow with the Fence you want, that over time the situation will right itself such that you will find it tolerable. And I think that if you've got a Fence to PROTECT, a real GAIN on your issue from the Republicans, which the Democrats will take away, you'll vote GOP and the Party will be saved and move forward on all the other fronts, many of which I care about more.
So there's a balancing act, political and moral, going on here. Where's the agitprop? I just don't see it.