First look at my signature line. I often get complimented on it, even by people who disagree with the substance of my posts. "Unrestricted immigration is a dangerous thing -- look at what happened to the Iroquois." Garrison Keillor That's a keeper for sure and mostly because it contains a great truth-one that motivates the GOP base to this day. The issue is important to me becauseI know that our economy is dependent on cheap labor that is most likely to be performed by immigrants. And I don't want to lose their contributions to our society and culture either. But from an intellectual point of view, I find it fascinating to think why it's so important to Republicans for all the wrong reasons. I posit two theories after the break.
- Fear of Immigration is rooted in insecurity about American society.
These blow hards are painfully aware of the fact that the land we occupy belonged to somebody else not all that long ago. But we came along and removed them-often by force and always with the assurance that our marshall technology made the ultimate outcome a no-brainer.
Eventually, a continent worth of culture was lost.
I think about that a lot and struggle with the idea that for all that was lost, I truly believe what came along next was on balance, an improvement on the old. I love the United States of America and while I don't want to white-wash the history of how it came into existence, I wouldn't trade its existence for anything.
Republicans aren't quite so sure. They know that a lot of bad things were done to claim the land we all grew so plump and lazy on. But they don't really admit it-they rationalize it and try to believe that there were no excesses-it was just God's plan for the white man or some such nonsense.
But to believe that means that, at least subconsciously, you have to accept the possibility that someone else will come along and take the land for themselves too. That's a scary proposition for a xenophobe.
- The anti-immigration fears betray the shallowness of their Patiotism.
The Right Wing base loves America because of....well, the 2nd Amendment, and those tacky songs (which have to be sung in English)...and the way we killed all them Japs in The Big One and....Low Taxes and Low Taxes...and Religiosity....and Regan tearing down the Berlin Wall with his own bare hands.
You see their love of America is really a love of an odd jumble of institutions and superficial half-truths about our history. It's not meaningful. So they really believe that if enough Mexicans move to this country, it will stop being America. The food will change. The language will change. The music will change. It won't be their America at all anymore.
But what about the patriotism of a liberal? You see that's based on the Bill of Rights and Love of Democracy and a willingness to let even the nuttiest nutbag say the most offensive things imaginable on the public airwaves or in the town square.
We know that this is what makes America unique. We're also confident enough in these freedoms and institution to know that a gradual browning of our skin color or the ocassional need to roll an R will not change any of that. It will still be America, whether 95 percent of American speak English as their first language or only 92 percent. We're not offended to hear the Star Spangled Banner in Spanish, or Korean or Mandarin, or a stanza in each. It doesn't matter. It doesn't make the experience less moving just because we can't sing along for a few lines.
We care about the substance and not the style of America. They have it ass-backwards and that's why they freak out about a reconquista when they hear Tejano coming out of the car next to them at a stop light.
This issue is the ultimate loser for their side. I don't base that on any opinion polling or irrational belief in the pluralism of the American working stiff. I base it on this-their base for once is acting at odds with their real source of power-big business. Gods, gun and gays don't affect how Sears sells tires or how Shell pumps gas. But the labor market does. And when push comes to shove, those corporate types will back the party that gives them access to the labor they need every time.
Viva la difference.