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Dems secret weapon: GOP immigration fixation |
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Whoever the Democratic Party mole is who tricked the Republicans into going hot and heavy over illegal immigration this primary election campaign deserves a nice award – maybe the Honorary Pete Wilson Cup. What? Doesn’t everyone remember Pete Wilson? Well, that’s kind of the point. He’s the former Republican governor of California with a bright future who pretty much vanished off the national stage after his re-election in the mid-1990s on a platform bashing illegal immigrants. If the plan was to hand over the state to the Democrats for the subsequent two or three generations, then it’s proceeding brilliantly. Otherwise, Wilson’s alienation of Hispanics in California should have served as a teachable moment for Republicans nationally. And, in fairness, it did, to some Republicans – notably, the Bush brothers, who held fairly enlightened views on immigration (in the case of Jeb, he’s actually married to a native of Mexico) in their respective states. Yet the party as a whole never really bought into their perspective, and with the Bush brand’s diminished role in party leadership, the new brain trust has inexplicably elevated this to the number one hot-button issue of the campaign. Even those who once held reasonable positions on the matter – John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee – have come around to the notion that illegal immigration is one of the biggest threats, if not the biggest, facing this country. Step back for a moment to consider the out-and-out hypocrisy of a nation built entirely by immigrants to demand sending the newest ones back. Native Americans must get a kick out of that one – excellent idea, but let’s do it right, and kick out everyone whose ancestors weren’t here at the time of the last ice age. Did Captain John Smith have valid visas for his passengers from the Wampanoag tribes? Did Cristopher Columbus bother seeking permission from the Arawaks and the Caribs before starting colonies? Before the nativist crowd gets too riled up, though, let’s leave that go. The Europeans had guns and the Native Americans did not. There’s no point pursuing that any further. There is no need to. The fact of it is that states like Florida, Texas, New York, New Jersey, even Illinois are fast headed where California has already been for a decade: a place were people with brown skin and who grew up with Spanish at home are the most dominant minority, and where people who would build a bigger, scarier border fence very soon will no longer constitute a majority. It’s important to remember here that illegal immigration is no more of a problem now than it was a generation ago. There were an estimated 12 million people here illegally when Ronald Reagan was president. There are an estimated 12 million people here illegally now. Which actually means that as a percentage of total population, illegal immigration is less of a problem now than it was two decades ago. (It should also be remembered that Reagan, whose death elevated him to the godhead in the GOP pantheon, didn’t really have a problem with immigration, legal or illegal – both on philosophical and practical grounds.) In other words – there is no new illegal immigration crisis, just a winning issues crisis for the Republican Party, which is stuck with an unpopular president hung around its neck and an economy possibly sinking into recession. And yes, while one or more of the GOP candidates each and every debate feels compelled to put on the record that they simply love legal immigrants, and it’s just the illegals who are the problem … well, somehow it never seems to ring true, just like the claim that the Southern Strategy was really about “states rights,” and not about pandering to white bigots still angry about losing the Civil War. It’ll be interesting to see how the candidates re-tool their immigration “message” after South Carolina. Republican voters neither in Florida on Jan. 29 nor those in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and other major states on Feb. 5 are likely to be as worked up about the issue. And if, in fact, the Republican “base” nationally really is this keen on slamming the gates shut around Reagan’s shining city on the hill? Well, perhaps it’s time to cultivate a classier base. America’s biggest problem is not immigration, legal or “illegal.” To the contrary, we should consider ourselves blessed that people are still willing to risk their lives to come here. With all the real problems we face, there could easily come a day in the coming decades where the poor and unlucky of the world dream every night of Shanghai or Bangalore or Rio rather than Los Angeles, Miami and New York. But look at the bright side – at least then we won’t need a fence
anymore. |
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January
13, 2008