Huarache-licking.
Posted on 05/16/2002 12:24:37 PM PDT by hchutch
For its political survival, the Republican Party must court the Hispanic vote. Totally shut out among black voters and badly defeated among Hispanics, the GOP is having a hard time finding enough white voters to overcome the deficit. With blacks and Hispanics casting one vote in four, a Republican must win two-thirds of the white vote to have a shot at 51 percent in the average election.
And the situation will only get worse for the Republican Party. The Hispanic population, which swelled from 7 percent to 12 percent of the U.S. population in the past 10 years, is forecast to grow to 18 percent by the end of the decade. If they continue to vote Democrat, the GOP will run out of white people — and face death as a political party.
Only by taking the bold and dramatic step of providing amnesty to illegal Mexican immigrants can the GOP, at a stroke, become competitive among Hispanic voters. This legislation, the equivalent for Hispanics of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for blacks, holds the potential to reposition an entire slice of the electorate and move Hispanics to the Republican Party.
But, at the same time, the Republican Party needs to hang on to its base of angry white men who largely oppose immigration — and illegal immigration most of all. They are the base that insisted on English-only initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s, battled to cutoff aid to illegal aliens, and demanded a halt to bilingual education.
How are Republicans to reach out to Hispanics while appeasing their truculent base?
President Bush has already taken the lead in pulling the Republican Party back from the issue precipices on which it was dancing. By stopping Republicans from opposing bilingual education or affirmative action, and by demoting English-only initiatives to the bottom of the party’s agenda, he has moved mightily to strengthen GOP outreach to Hispanics.
But it is his amnesty proposal for illegal Mexican immigrants that holds the real hope for his party to avert demographic extinction.
The key to resolving the Republican dilemma of having to choose between outreach to Hispanics and alienating its Anglo political base is to condition amnesty with good citizenship requirements.
Republicans should offer conditional amnesty to Mexican illegal immigrants. Here’s the deal: If you want to stay in the United States, you must enroll in a good-citizen program. The immigrant has to agree to become functionally literate in English within two years, work for six of the next eight quarters and pay taxes to FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) for each of these quarters — no off-the-books work — and avoid arrest for 24 months.
At the end of the two-year period, those who meet the requirements would become citizens in good standing, eligible to vote and participate in civic life. Those who refuse to enroll or who fail the meet the requirements would face deportation. If the program works, it can be expanded to other categories of illegal immigrants.
Polling shows that most voters, even among the GOP base, are willing to forgive the illegality of their arrival if these Mexican immigrants show a willingness to earn their legal status in America. The compromise has the contractual opportunity/responsibility formula that sold so many of Clinton’s programs and that lies at the core of the highly successful welfare reform program. By asking something in return for giving something, the resulting transaction acquires a moral impetus that it sorely needs to win national support.
At the same time as the Republicans offer the olive branch to illegal Hispanic immigrants, they must use this year’s review of immigration statutes to close down immigration from nations that sponsor or harbor terrorists — including even such so-called allies as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. By closing one spigot as they open the other, Republicans can master the political hat trick of reaching out to Hispanics while appeasing their political base.
Otherwise, the GOP will go the way of the Liberal Party in Great Britain, to the political grave.
I would rather have my borders sealed than a celebate President........A Nation without borders is not a nation,it is a parking lot. Why in Gods name would you pour BILLIONS into an Army to defend a parking lot that allows anyone to walk in to it ?...NO that invites EVERYONE to walk or truck into it.
Well Stated my friend. Great Post.
Huarache-licking.
Yes, he got clinton re-elected. If we have to depend on immigrants for votes now, what chance do you think we will have with millions more? What if the Blacks and Mexicans join together to demand reparations from the evil Whites? There are many Blacks and Mexicans that think the Whites owe them.
If we don't curb legal and illegal immigration now, the Whites are going to be a minority the rest can take advantage of. You want to become a third world country? Do you know about LaRaza, MECHA and other parties that are trying to take the US down by means of migration? If we don't take a stand now, we sure won't have a chance later.
you are so right about that. it's very sad, really. i recently attended a Bill of Rights rally on the capitol grounds in austin, texas. it was attended by a mere crowd of 40 or so. we have a population of about 750,000 and 40 people show. stupidity? at the least....
It makes me an white Angeleno who understands what is actually happening here.
Can't say the same for you or your savior, PBuchanan.
Thirty seven years SoCal experience. Still here and loving it.
What tangible deterioration is present that would not exist without "Mexicans Regression"?
Sickening. You should be banned.
How utterly French of you!
If Americans hated illegals, there would be no (or very few) illegals in America.
Period.
I was responding to someone's clever word play.
Try to follow, or don't try answer to answer for others.
Thanks.
Another Frenchman?
Are you backing off from your "all Illegals should be deported" position...
Question mark?
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