The debate on illegal immigration has been raging in Washington and throughout the country for a while now, but little has been done on either side of the debate legislatively.
Republicans have been unsuccessful in securing the borders, but what they have been successful at is ensuring that Hispanic Americans won’t be voting Republican anytime soon.
Much as the Democrats have allowed the far-left fringe to control the Iraq war message, Republicans have allowed the far-right to control the immigration message.
The vast majority of Americans just want a secure border in the dangerous age of terror we live in today, but a small element on the far-right has a racist agenda that has poisoned the entire immigration debate.
Just as the far-left wants to get out of Iraq at any cost, the far-right wants to deport all 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States.
Both views are unrealistic, unreasonable, and extreme. It’s very unpopular on the right to admit that race has anything whatsoever to do with the immigration debate, but the fact is it does.
Again the undercover racism is only the motivation for a very small minority of the GOP, unfortunately they are the loudest.
In a Washington Post Op-Ed Former Bush speech writer Michael Gerson highlights recent blunders by Republicans as it relates to the immigration debate.
The Univision Republican debate, scheduled for last Sunday with simultaneous translation into Spanish, was postponed when only Sen. John McCain agreed to show up. Rep. Tom Tancredo objected to the event on principle: “We should not be doing things that encourage people to stay separate in a separate language”
Gerson goes on to cite staggering statistics that show just how much damage the GOP has actually done in driving away Hispanic voters.
Latino support for GOP candidates dropped back to 30 percent in 2006. According to one poll, Latinos under age 30 now prefer a generic Democrat over a Republican for president by 42 points. A harsh, Tancredo-like image of Republicans has solidified in the mainstream Hispanic media. And all of this regression will be even more obvious in the next few months, because more than half of the Hispanic voters in America live in states that are part of the new lineup of early primaries.
It is undeniable that if Republicans do not push aside the fanatical hardliners and come to a reasonable compromise on the immigration debate, they can count on losing elections for decades to come.
Written By Chris Jones
The Hot Joints
webmaster@thehotjoints.com
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4 users commented in " Immigration Reform and the Self-Destruction of the GOP "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackAmen! It’s a blessing to hear regular Americans on this. Such a fresh breath of air.
Thanks for someone finally admitting that race has something to do with it. It’s obvious in many cases, but even those who are obvious with it still deny it, and in fact, will rather accuse Hispanics of being ‘racist’. It’s frustrating. Thanks for this, it is so true.
I will not call GOP racist for opposing illegal immigration. But, if we combine their opposition to civil rights, wanting to deny children born in this country automatic citizenship, whether the parents were here legally or not, their opposition to white American men marrying Asian women (mail order brides is one part), fighting H1-B visas for computer folks (accounting for 35,000 visas a year out of a total of 3 million jobs created and most of whom are Asian), but not fighting H1-B for movie actors such as Poppy Montgomerry (accounting for 7,000 visas, but most of the recipients happen to be white), their opposition to Civil Rights laws, their not coming in front of a black or Hispanic forum to debate, so as not to antagonize their white racist constituents…yes, indeed the GOP is racist..and NO SELF-RESPECTING MINORITY SHOULD SUPPORT THE GOP. However, there are a lot of rear licking minorities particularly among the Asian community who will support the GOP even if their racist constitutents put them in the internment or concentration camp.
80% of the American people want an end to anarchy!
Illegal workers are criminals, those who hire them are criminals and those who aid-and-abet them are criminals.
Illegal aliens in America have NO rights. We are required by law to arrest and prosecute, deport them.
No, matter your political party affiliation, and setting aside your thoughts on issues. We all need to remember what it is to be an American Citizen. We need to make sure our elected representatives obey their Oath of Office and keep their Oath of Allegiance.
See http://tinyurl.com/2znnvl Know whom you are voting for.
I couldn’t agree more with the opinion that Republicans are marginalizing themselves in a country that is becoming more diverse by the day. One in three LEGAL Americans is a minotiry. And the Republicans’ message is lod and clear: if you are not a white-anglo-saxon-protestant, we don’t care about you, we don’t want your vote. Guess what, November 2008 will be payback time. Say no to racism in America. And, make no mistake, a comprehensive immigration reform with path to citizenship for illegals is a matter of when, not if.
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