Posted on 11/14/2007 11:15:52 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
New York Governor Spitzer's back-down on drivers' licenses for illegal immigrants just cements illegal immigration as the Great Elite Back-Down Issue.
It was noticed years ago that the gap between elite opinion and public opinion on immigration issues is extraordinarily wide, as these gaps go. Some of this is naked self-interest: wealthy business types liking cheap, docile labor forces, rich folk of all stripes appreciating cheap & meek domestic servants. Some part arises from the guilty conscience that rich people always have, even in the U.S.A., known that all wealth and success is to some degree a product of dumb luck. From this you get patronizing noblesse oblige attitudes directed most particularly at those who are obviously poor. (The lower-middle classes don't seem to get much noblesse oblige directed their way.) Some comes from the "diversity" indoctrination that most elite types got while passing through their elite colleges and law schools. A big part arises from the simple and inescapable fact that elites don't share the anxieties of ordinary folk. They don't worry, as the rest of us do, about property values, losing a job, or affording health care. And then some is just that elites are better traveled and more "world-conscious" than the rest of us, and correspondingly, they are less attached to their own nation and its citizenship.
Whatever the reason, the gap is huge, and elite types keep falling headlong into it. It's hard not to smile at the spectacle. On this topic, our ruling classes are just simply clueless. It's a huge, major case of not getting it.
We saw this most wonderfully—I cherish the memory— last year with those big ¡Sí se puede! marches. The first round of demonstrations was addressed by a raft of big Democrat panjandrums—Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, etc. The second round, a few weeks later, was addressed by... nobody. The Kennedys and Clintons all had pressing engagements elsewhere, it turned out. I was smiling about this for weeks. Elite Back-Down One.
Same thing with the various congressional attempts at "comprehensive immigration reform." Our Senators stir themselves from their oak-paneled offices and antique-leather armchairs to cook up a new scheme to amnesty all those polite, nice folk who are doing their yard work for them. Seems like a great idea! Then suddenly they can't hear themselves talk for the roar of phone calls and faxes coming in from their constituents. Elite Back-Down Two. It's all totally baffling to them. Who are these people making such a fuss about a perfectly reasonable, humane proposal?
It's us, buddy, the great unwashed. This is still a democracy we have here. Try to keep that in mind, eh?
The American working poor are vastly hurt by this. Not only do illegals suppress his legal wages, he has to pay in taxes for the extra welfare, crime, decreased property. So, the person that hires labor gets a two fer, depressed labor bids by Americans, totally with out labor rights illegals bidding at low costs, and with the costs, crime and such carried by others.
>>If one the other hand, we look at which party wants to cut taxes on captitals gains, which party wants to lower taxes on the top income bracket, etc etc, that would provide a much better clue.<<
OTOH there is some point at which taxes on the wealthy are not good for anyone. Maybe there are more wealthy republicans than dems, but you have not made any convincing arguments to that effect.
There are certainly politicians in both parties who act like aristocrats, don’t care what their constituents think or want.
In the Democrat's propaganda world, yes. In the real world, the Republicans are the party of the middle class, and the Democrats are the party of the rich, posturing as the party of the poor. This can be seen not only in the tendency of the Democrats to be supported by a relatively few, relatively large donations as compared to the Republicans, but by the red-blue map broken down by counties - which reveals that the Democrats do best in the inner cities and also in the toney suburbs, while Republicans do best in suburban and rural districts.Democratic politics are the conspicuous consumption of the rich; the middle class can't afford them.
She will have to consult with her focus group first.
Your constant harping on this hillbilly stereotype of "Appalachia" is beginning to mark you as some sort of elitist, in your own mind at least.
That’s what I get for not hitting “preview.”
Arrocentricity! Which means I and my kind know better than the common people.
Why is there so much class envy, pessimissim, and talk of exploitation in these types of threads from conservatives, anyhow? What would Ronald Reagan think of us if he were still here with us?
I agree with you. I bridle every time I hear a politician, or anyone else for that matter, refer to our Republic as a democracy.
All the anti-elitist voters come from the Conservative ranks to split the Republican vote. Ross Perot and Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party are good examples.
Embrace cheap labor at your own peril Republicans.
The return of Spiro Agnew’s Silent Majority ...
“Michigan and New Mexico are two of them. That really needs to be fixed too.”
But the Democrats need illegals to be registered voters through “Motor Voter”, so Granholm and Richardson are perfectly happy to have illegals driving and voting in their states. Since the politicians can’t be trusted, we really need to have a way to verify citizenship before voting in this country.
Let me fix this:
What if it’s some guy with a grade 3 education who owns a landscaping business criminal enterprise in Appalachia that’s not doing particularly well?
In America, mostly wealth. Americans don’t care much about pedigree.
Derb... more great stuff from the Derb who BTW is an immigrant from UK and has a Chinese wife and children with her. So how can the Mexis complain?
The amnesty traitors will be back with a vengeance when the coast is clear, after the election.
Hillary’s stance is well known and on the record. She voted for comprehensive immigration reform in 2006 and 2007. And at tonight’s debate, she will again advocate comprehensive immigration reform [read amnesty.]
A timely development, since his "Elite Corps of Impudent Snobs" are making their move for total control...
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