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March 26, 2006
The Wedge Issue Within
Much has been made in recent years of Republican political guru Karl Rove's masterful use of wedge issues -- abortion, gay marriage, etc, -- to polarize the American electorate, and to the GOP's political benefit. 2006, however, reveals that the Republican Party faces a major internal wedge issue of its own -- immigration.
In today's NY Times, Rachel Swarns captures the political dilemna this issue presents for one Republican elected official, U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas.
A great divide has emerged among Republicans, with President Bush and the business community on one side, and hard line Congressional and rank and file GOPers on the other. The President and his supporters in the business community favor some sort of guest worker "amnesty" program, that allows at least most of the 11 million or so illegal immigrants in the United States a chance to legally remain here. The hard liners see illegal immigrants as taking American jobs, placing an unfair social service burden on the rest of us while paying little or no taxes, and a potential national security threat. They want them out.
The dispute has created a quandry for Cornyn, a self-professed hard line conservative, with a voting record to prove it, but who also represent a border state with a large and growing Hispanic population. His comments in the article signal a politician trying to tiptoe through a political minefield. Good luck.
This problem is equally dangerous for the Republican Party as a whole, which now relies hugely on its Anglo conservative base to win, but is also seeking to make inroads with minorities, particularly Latinos, given inevitable demographic trends in America.
Here in Houston, a recent candidate forum sponsored by two local area Chambers of Commerce, featuring Republican and Democratic candidates for State Senate District 7 and State House District 133, revealed the political danger this issue poses with a diverse electorate.
Each of the Republican candidates for both legislative races fell over himself, trying to seem as hard line as possible. The "send 'em all back" sentiment was shocking (and rather curious, considering the audience -- Chamber of Commerce business types, many of whom were minorities and immigrants themselves) for the xenophobia and borderline racism it embraced. Even candidates like former Houston City Council Member Mark Ellis and HCCS Trustee Jim Murphy, both of whom have worked to cultivate a moderate, "reasonable Republican" image during their public service, shamelessly pandered on this issue.
Considering that Ellis ran a dismal fourth in a four-candidate field, and Murphy, who was thought to be the front-runner for the HD 133 nomination, barely limped into a runoff, perhaps they should reconsider the wisdom of such a strategy.
Ironically, at the forum, the candidate who seemed to best connect with this Republican business crowd on this and a number of other issues, was the HD 133 Democratic candidate Kristi Thibaut. She had the audacity to articulate some basic common sense -- these folks are here, doing jobs most Americans won't do, paying taxes (sales tax, rent, etc.), and we need policy that allows them to be here legally, so we can better control our borders. Heretical? To the hard liners to be sure, but this audience ate it up.
In 2006, the once famous Republican Party discipline has begun to splinter, along issues like immigration. And since the right wing of the party controls the primary process, GOP candidates are tacking hard to the right to win the nomination. This strategy offers Democrats a real opportunity to seize common sense, reasonable positions and make them their own. Will they do it? One of them already is.
Posted by houtopia at March 26, 2006 01:04 PM