Very good and informative. I had been told this. It seems as though Obama and the Democrats along with the MSM are trying to stir up a racial confrontation and make as though it is white folks doing it. White America had better come to its senses and see we are being attacked by the Democrats. This could very well be another Waco on a bigger scale.
Since the 1965 Immigration Act, our pro-population growth immigration policies have fueled major demographic changes in a very short period of time. In 1970, non-Hispanic whites comprised 89 percent of the population; today they are 66 percent; and by 2042, they will be 50 percent. The Democrats, under the banner of multiculturalism and diversity, have forged a political coalition that depends on individuals coalescing around racial and ethnic identities rather than the issues. The continuing and increasing flow of minority immigrants, mostly poor and uneducated, provide a natural constituency for the Democrats, which see them as their principal source of political power.
The Democrats [and some Republicans] have been successful in branding conservatives who want the rule of law enforced against illegal aliens and reduced levels of immigration as nativists, racists, and xenophobes. Citing the old saw that the United States is a nation of immigrants and using anecdotal, but by no means representational, examples of immigrants being mistreated, they deploy emotion and invective to intimidate and isolate the opposition. According to the Democrats, the Republican Party is comprised of old white men who are racists and revanchists bent on returning us to pre-Civil War days.
The irony is that immigration can be a winning issue for Republicans. Our views on immigration actually coincide with those of the majority of the American people. We need not be apologetic or defensive. Republicans must be more proactive and less reactive. They must be willing to take a principled stand on the issue even if it means polarization, being the object of demagoguery, and short-term political losses. Unless Republicans redefine the battlefield and terms of engagement, they will continue to lose the war.
The Republican strategy on immigration should be based on the core principles of the party, i.e., national security, limited government, the rule of law and the Constitution, and individual responsibility. Immigration is an issue that cuts across partisan lines. There are plenty of independents and Reagan Democrats who are affected adversely by immigration and hold far different views than the Democrat political leadership, union bosses, religious leaders, etc. Republicans need to articulate their message better to tap into those constituencies. That said, pandering and outreach to minorities don’t work. Republicans lose when they try to play identity politics against the Democrats and it just reinforces their framing of the issue. Republicans must appeal to the interests of the individual voter with a universal message regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender.