I’ve said for a while that the made-up conservative controversy over immigration is sort of the last hurrah for the racist white male demographic that makes up a non-insignificant part of the Republican base. This piece in the New Yorker gets into some detail backing up my position.
In several election contests in the past two years, Republicans tried and failed to deploy immigration as a campaign weapon. This November, Republicans in Virginia and New York who ran on the issue were defeated. Not even Eliot Spitzer’s misbegotten plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, which was thought to be ruinous for Democrats, has damaged the Democratic Party; rather, the Party increased its numbers in local races around the state. McCain says that last year he saw how toothless the issue was in Arizona. “Congressman J. D. Hayworth had a pretty good opponent,” he said of the former Republican from Arizona, who lost his seat in the 2006 midterm election. “J.D. ran just on the issue of immigration, in a moderate but Republican district. Arizona State University is there, in Phoenix. And J.D. got beat by four points in the general election."
The article also notes that immigration is much less of a heated issue in states where people are used to having hispanic people around. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why someone in Iowa might freak out about immigration if a hispanic family or two move into town.
RELATED: Tom Tancredo is apparently dropping out.
The “Southern Strategy”, amended to include immigrants (though their ire seems to be confined to the Spanish-Speaking) is less effective because its base of voters is dying out. Young people today are more accepting of minorities because they deal with them everyday, even in formerly homogeneous communities.
Virginia is an interesting case. The 90’s and early 2000’s explosion in the counties around DC have drowned out the more conservative population in Appalachia and other parts of Virginia. Even in Hampton Roads, the military population is more comfortable with Latinos than their parents because Latinos are a decent portion of the military.
When people are exposed to Latinos and other immigrants, they vote more rationally and can’t be whipped up by anti-immigrant furor. They see legal and illegal immigrants as people, not as bogeymen.
Also, this is why anti-gay sentiment is a loser for the GOP. The great majority of young people (under-30) are comfortable with gay people. Even in the military we see this trend. The GOP is going after a diminishing demographic. They should have taken the hint when Archie Bunker died. Even he had a TG friend though.
The “Southern” strategy was directed as much towards Archie Bunker as it was towards Gomer Pyle, and Archie lived in Queens, not Mayberry. As a Southerner, I can see the difference in attitudes towards race between my parents’ and my generation, and I think you’re right about gays and immigrants today.
Hick, you’re probably right to distinguish. Archie was part of the “Silent Majority” that was neither. Nonetheless, the attitudes were similar.
That being said, it’s well to remember that many persons do have legitimate concerns about illegal immigration that shouldn’t be ignored.
Aside from the race card, the “Southern” strategy has always been about getting people (originally white males) to feel like they’re getting screwed over by liberal politicians, media members, pointed headed intellectuals, etc. That won’t change. But maybe it won’t be as effective as it’s been in the past.
Tancredo is done?
Shoot. That means he’ll be coming home to Colorado. It was good while it lasted.
True, there are legitimate concerns about illegal immigration. However, until the racists and bigots are removed from the debate, a real decision can’t be made.
That being said, it’s well to remember that many persons do have legitimate concerns about illegal immigration that shouldn’t be ignored.
What E.L. said. There are legitimate concerns but the message from the GOP isn’t meant to address them. And the loudest advocates for rounding up all the brown people aren’t trying to address them either. That is because there are only two viable solutions to the issue: a) the status quo or b) mass naturalization. Deportation (aka “shipping them all back to Mexico”) WILL NOT HAPPEN. It’s not only prohibitively expensive but it is physically impossible.
The GOP leadership knows this but they need it as a wedge issue because it plays well to their xenophobic and racist base.