Comments on: Washington State Republicans for Denying Citizenship to Children of Immigrants http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2006/05/30/washington-state-republicans-for-denying-citizenship-to-children-of-immigrants/ Essays on politics, culture and ideas about Israeli-Arab peace and world music Fri, 21 Nov 2008 04:40:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Jason Truesdell http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2006/05/30/washington-state-republicans-for-denying-citizenship-to-children-of-immigrants/#comment-3336 Jason Truesdell Tue, 30 May 2006 22:52:37 +0000 http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2006/05/30/washington-state-republicans-for-denying-citizenship-to-children-of-immigrants/#comment-3336 The first thing that popped into my mind, as I listened to that on KUOW this weekend, was "wow, that's very far from the way I think..." Well, actually, it was the second thing, right after "oh, God, that's horrifying." An apt observation from a guest on KUOW was that immigration is the Republican party's Iraq: the thing that divides their party enough to muddle their message and make it possible for them to fail to lead in the "war of ideas." I know this excessively nativist opinion is not a majority sentiment, but it might be enough to rally some of the Eastern Washington strongholds of the Republican party to keep their candidates in office. The only thing that trumps hostility to Hispanic immigrants, legal and otherwise, in that part of the state, is the complete and utter dependence Eastern Washington's economy has on labor from immigrant populations. The first thing that popped into my mind, as I listened to that on KUOW this weekend, was “wow, that’s very far from the way I think…” Well, actually, it was the second thing, right after “oh, God, that’s horrifying.”

An apt observation from a guest on KUOW was that immigration is the Republican party’s Iraq: the thing that divides their party enough to muddle their message and make it possible for them to fail to lead in the “war of ideas.”

I know this excessively nativist opinion is not a majority sentiment, but it might be enough to rally some of the Eastern Washington strongholds of the Republican party to keep their candidates in office. The only thing that trumps hostility to Hispanic immigrants, legal and otherwise, in that part of the state, is the complete and utter dependence Eastern Washington’s economy has on labor from immigrant populations.

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