This is the seventh installment of my analysis of Obama's potential Republican foes in the general election. I have previously profiled Sam Brownback, John McCain, Tommy Thompson, Jim Gilmore, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.
Tom Tancredo is up today, and he's a single-issue protest candidate. That issue: immigration. Putting aside the fact that there is multiple sources of evidence that shows immigrants help the economy as well as reduce crime, the very notion of "it's our country" and "we were here first" is one of the most hypocritical statements ever uttered. I included the above cartoon because it displays the silliness of Tancredo's singlue issue: we of course, were NOT here first. America first took the land (and and the lives) of the Native Americans. We bought Louisiana from France, we took California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas from Mexico in an imperialistic war of agression, we took the Phillipenes from Spain, and we bought Alaska from the Russians. Oh, and did I mention that most of us aren't even decdendants of the origninal people who came here?And that most of these groups (Irish, Italians, Chinese, Eastern Europeans, ect) had to face huge descrimination in their hayday as well?
Perhaps the biggest irony is that as a liberal, I'm against illegal immigration as well, but for a very different reason: I think it should be legal immigration. These people should be allowed to be US citizens. In addition, to reduce "illegal" immigration, we should remove the market from it by increasing penalties for companies that hire immigrants and offering rewards for workers who turn their employers in. This would be far cheaper than building a wall, and would encourage the proper behavior from the enforcement of the free market. A perfectly conservative idea.
Of course, the Republican Party never puts principle above hatred. Tancredo's view of immigration has nothing to do with economic woes, crime fears, terrorism concerns (the 9/11 hijackers all came here LEGALLY,) or worker's rights. It has everything to do with racism. This is why Tancredo recently addressed a hate group and, in reference to it's high ethnic population, called Miami a "third world country," and said it was "the murder capitol of the world." There are at least five major cities in the US with a higher murder rate than Miami, and the "murder capitol of the world" is actually the nation of Colombia, likely because of the huge influence of drug cartel wars.
Are Tancredo and most of his supporters racists? Of course. Why is it so hard to admit to this simple fact? Most anti-immigrant semtiment in America has been historically racist. This is no different. There's no other reason to be so against immigration. But does Tancredo bother me? Not really. Because of people like him, in 2006, Hispanic voters abandonded Republicans in droves. So Tom! Keep doing what you're doing!
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