Uh oh. The anti-immigration paleocons are running smack into the corporate cons on immigration.
Mark Gould has been a lifelong Republican. The self-described libertarian and president of Gould Construction in Glenwood Springs, Colo., has been a registered Republican for 30 years, and he served a six-year stint as the chairman of his county's Republican Party.
But Gould is a Republican no longer. Exasperated over the GOP's increasingly harsh rhetoric about restricting immigration, Gould switched his registration to Independent two weeks ago. "Extremists have hijacked the Republican Party," says Gould, who says he employs a staff of 125, including legal immigrants. [...]
Gould isn't the only employer growing disenchanted with Republican candidates' stances on immigration. A number of business owners in the U.S.—many of them longtime Republicans—say that talk of severe crackdowns on illegal immigration and restrictions on legal immigration are pushing them away from the party. Some are even switching to actively support Democrats, including Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
"The Republican candidates just don't get it," says Maureen Torrey, owner of Torrey Farms in Elba, N.Y. "They need to understand that immigration helps drive economic growth, and that without it a lot of industries are in trouble." Torrey, a lifelong Republican, is now backing Clinton [...]
One state where employers are becoming especially concerned is Arizona. A new state law [...] scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1 will suspend for up to 10 days the operating license of any company caught knowingly employing an undocumented worker. If caught a second time, the company loses its license altogether. Business groups—including the Arizona Contractors' Assn. and an employer coalition called Wake Up Arizona—tried to fight the law on legal grounds, but their case was thrown out by a U.S. District Court. The business groups are asking for a preliminary injunction while the case is under appeal.
In the meantime, employers are looking to make a statement with their votes. "The Republican Party has held a corner of support from the business community, but the level of frustration is high," says David Jones, president and chief executive of the Arizona Contractors' Assn., which represents about 300 general subcontractors and suppliers. "They're so wrapped up in ideology that they're willing to throw anything else out the window. That's why the Democrats are starting to realize a potential friend in the Arizona business community."
Republicans are great for business if you are Big Pharma, Big Oil, or Big Tobacco. Everyone else gets the crumbs, if that. As has been widely documented, the stock market does far better under Democratic administrations than Republican ones. With paleocons seeking to end immigration, with theocons hostile to education and science, and with the neocons more interested in bombing the shit out of brown people countries and antagonizing foreign trading partners rather than investing in the nation's economic infrastructure, there is shrinking space for them on the Right.
On the left they have to put up with what, labor unions? Environmental regulations? Safety standards? In other words, a healthy and happy workforce? Even higher taxes, reinvested into economic infrastructure and education (as in booming Silicon Valley in high-tax California)?
Seems like a clear choice to me, as well as for an increasing number of business owners.