EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Jim Gilchrist of Minuteman Project on Immigration, Terror, Elections

Global Politician ^ | 5/30/2007 | David Storobin

[SittinYonder]

Today I spoke to Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project. The most striking part of the interview was how mild his views on immigration truly were. The man has been vilified by most of the Left and even much of the Right, including the White House. He’s supposed to be an immigrant-hating vigilante who dreams of dead Mexicans at night. Instead, he’s an intelligent, mild-mannered person with very reasonable proposals that include supporting a limited H1b temporary visa program for skilled workers and about 200,000 legal immigrants annually. We also covered the War of Terror, U.S. Presidential elections, and the Minuteman Project dispute, among other issues.

-- SNIP --

What do you think about building a wall on the US-Mexican border?

I think it’s the last resort, but I am for it now because our political leaders are doing nothing about it. Our Founding Father never envisioned this cavalier attitude to our security.
Our leaders and their version of “patriotism” will lead to the demise of the United States. They are afraid of taking a stand for our sovereignty and are bought off by corporations who want to exploit the new “slave labor market”.
The mentality of corporations is no different than those of slave traders. Same mentality, same morally cheap attitude.

Who are your political heroes?

Ronald Reagan. John Kennedy. Eisenhower. FDR. Abraham Lincoln. George Washington. Thomas Jefferson. And now Tom Tancredo.

Do you think someone like Tancredo or Hunter can win the GOP nomination?

Yes, but their message needs to get out. Giuliani and Hillary are the two threats. McCain, I don’t think he’ll win. I don’t know enough about Romney.

-- SNIP --

[SittinYonder]

Interesting interview with Jim Gilchrist, former Constitutional Party candidate for Congress and president of the Minuteman Project (not to be confused with Chris Simcox and the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps).

He doesn't mention Simcox or his views of the situation between the two of them, but he does talk about Marvin Stewart and Debra Peterson (calls them sociopaths and says Stewart is insane!)

He also offers an odd list of political heroes ... Who'd've thought FDR belonged on the same list as Reagan or Jefferson?

[SittinYonder]

On Federal Spending:
“The federal government is in debt because it spends too much, not because it taxes people too little. Government spending is classified as either discretionary or mandatory. Discretionary spending includes funds for things like the military and is explicitly set by Congress on an annual basis. But the major culprit in ballooning budgets is mandatory spending for entitlement programs like medicare, expenditures which are determined by the number of beneficiaries. The only way to control the budget is to reform the entitlement programs that mandatory spending funds. Those decisions on how to allocate resources are as economically necessary as they are politically and ethically difficult. ”
-Tom Tancredo

Click for more on Tancredo on the issues.

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[ontap]

Although we find it strange I know several people including my father who went from being FDR democrats to Reagan republicans but never lost their affinity for Roosevelt. My dad has a picture of Reagan and Roosevelt on his mantle.

[mirkwood]