Quote of The Day: Illegal Immigration and American Conservatism
Paul Greenberg:
Who with any political sense in the '50s would have predicted that, by the end of the century, conservatism would come to dominate American political thought?Read the whole thing.
How did it happen? It came to pass because American conservatism was able to articulate the country's values in a way that made sense to a new generation of Americans.
A battle is always raging for the soul of American conservatism. It is a battle between those who would find a familiar place to hunker down, and those who would risk engagement with ideas and the world.
There have always been those who would reduce the conservative impulse to something narrow and mean and afraid — an exclusive little club restricted to Our Kind of People, rather than a great, open, embracing faith.
The great political achievement of Ronald Reagan was to transform a cozy club into a populist movement, and his example remains instructive. Much like Lincoln before him, The Great Communicator was willing to accept the know-nothings' votes, but he drew the line at substituting their prejudices for his principles.
In Mr. Lincoln's day, the Know-Nothings actually had a party, and its bogeyman was the Roman Catholic Church. Today's demagogues use the latest wave of immigrants to much the same effect.
Today the party of Lincoln is being told it should demand that all illegal immigrants be deported, even if that means breaking up families, disrupting the economy and denying immigrant mothers medical care and their children an equal right to a college education.
Does anyone think these children will forget how their families, their mothers and fathers, were treated once they grow up to become voters, as they surely will? Childhood hurts endure, and their fruit is bitterness.
Do we really want to let that kind of bitterness take root? Immigrant families once instilled an undying gratitude and reflexive patriotism in their children. I know. I was an immigrant's child. Are we now going to plant resentment instead?
posted by Lowell Brown at 9:47 AM
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5 Comments:
The party of Lincoln freed the slaves. But it is the party of segregation that gets all the black votes. So there is not even a tiny sliver of evidence that amnesty will convert these illegals into Republican voters. And if we kick 'em out, their vote won't matter anyway!
Your "Quote of the Day" tries to equate illegal and legal immigrants in the last paragraph, something that really chaffs the hides of Conservatives. It is a common tactic among open-borders types.
Posted by nash
Nash: More often than not, and whether we like it or not, the children of illegals are American citizens. Thus the point about breeding resentment stands.
By the way, if you won't call me an "open borders type" I won't call you a nativist. I don't think either epithet applies to either of us.
Posted by The Hedgehog
You can call me a nativist all you want. My mother was a legal immigrant and is a naturalized citizen. She speaks fluent English which she learned as an adult through free adult eductation courses offered through the community. She opposes illegal immigration too.
I don't care if the children of illegals are American citizens. They'll probably vote Democrat anyway. As long as the open-borders crowd doesn't get your full amnesty, their numbers won't make a difference.
BTW, the Senate just voted not to fund the 370 mile fence that they approved of a couple months ago. Now you tell me why I should trust the open borders crowd?
Posted by nash
Nash, please calm down or find someplace else to post your thoughts. Neither of the writers on the blog beleive in open borders (a foolish idea) or "full amnesty," and we certainly do oppose illegal immigration. If you think otherwise you have not been reading very carefully at all.
"They'll probably vote Democrat anyway." Not the most thoughtful of statements.
Posted by The Hedgehog
Actually, since even so called native American indigenous peoples are believed to have entered America across the geo-historic "land bridge" you are correct when you say we are all sons and daughters (etc.) of immigrants.
Posted by DL
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