{"id":734,"date":"2013-01-29T12:23:22","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T17:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=734"},"modified":"2013-01-29T12:23:22","modified_gmt":"2013-01-29T17:23:22","slug":"amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html","title":{"rendered":"Amnesty: Racial Pandering Is Not the Way for GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to three million <\/em>mostly Hispanic immigrants in 1986, Republicans feel all but compelled to grant amnesty to eleven million <\/em>such immigrants in 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked why Republicans are more open to pursuing \u201ca pathway to citizenship\u201d today than they were just a few years back, John McCain offered a reply that is refreshing for its frankness: \u201cElections.\u00a0 Elections.\u201d\u00a0 The Republican senator fromArizona, former presidential candidate, and long-time supporter of amnesty explained: \u201cThe Republican Party is losing the support of Hispanic citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous polls have indicated that McCain\u2019s assessment is flat out wrong, that \u201cHispanic citizens<\/em>\u201d\u2014i.e. those Hispanics that are here legally<\/em>\u2014are about as opposed to illegal immigration as is the average American.\u00a0 Such polls shouldn\u2019t be necessary, though, to see that amnesty does not promise to be a winning ticket for the GOP. There is one simple fact that should make this plain:<\/p>\n

The GOP remains chronically unpopular among Hispanics in spite of <\/em>the fact that it was a Republican <\/em>president that granted the one and only amnesty for Hispanic immigrants that this country has had.<\/p>\n

But if it isn\u2019t their resistance to amnesty, it may be asked, then why do Hispanics continue to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats?<\/p>\n

To answer this question, we need to do something that few politicians from either party are willing to do: speak truthfully.\u00a0 And the truth is this: the reason that Hispanics, along with blacks and Asians, vote in massive numbers for Democrats has everything <\/em>to do with racial politics. <\/em><\/p>\n

Everyone knows this.\u00a0 Few people are willing to say it.<\/p>\n

There aren\u2019t many things in American politics capable of commanding a trans-racial consensus.\u00a0 That the Democratic Party is the party of entitlements, though, is something that is recognized by Americans of all colors and creeds. And let\u2019s face it: a growing number of Americans, of all races, find the offer of something for nothing irresistible.<\/p>\n

Yet for non-whites, the Democrats\u2019 lure is that much more powerful, for the Democratic Party is also universally recognized as the party of so-called \u201caffirmative action,\u201d of endless privileges and benefits for racial minorities.<\/p>\n

The professional and monetary benefits to be had from voting Democrat are enough to attract many non-whites.\u00a0 For others, however, the attraction runs more deeply than this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Republican Party, both its leadership and its rank-and-file, consists primarily of whites.\u00a0 <\/em>In our new, multicultural America of which, as TIME <\/em>magazine said, Barack Obama is both \u201csymbol\u201d and \u201cauthor,\u201d this alone is enough to render it suspect. But it also consists of whites who repeatedly talk about \u201cpersonal responsibility,\u201d \u201cindividualism,\u201d \u201ccapitalism,\u201d \u201cthe Founders,\u201d \u201cthe Constitution,\u201d \u201cthe Declaration of Independence,\u201d etc.\u2014words that, thanks to the tireless labors of race activists, are taken by many non-whites as \u201ccode\u201d for racism.<\/p>\n

There is no small number of non-whites who don\u2019t so much vote for <\/em>the Democratic Party as vote against <\/em>\u201cthe racist\u201d Republican Party.<\/p>\n

Whether it is 1100 or 11 million Hispanic immigrants who are granted amnesty, it is this many voters who the Democrats can add to their base. Obviously, the Democrats know this, for if not, they would not be leaning on the Republicans to endorse it.\u00a0 Just as Democrats do Republicans no good turn in telling them which candidates they should run for office, they do them no good turn in telling them that amnesty is the key for Republicans to win future elections!<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s play along here for a moment.\u00a0 If Republicans want to expand their \u201coutreach\u201d efforts, maybe in addition to amnesty, they should consider doing some of the following.<\/p>\n

First, they should voluntarily relinquish some of their seats in Congress and hand them over to the Hispanics, blacks, and Asians of their choosing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Second, they should become the most unapologetic apologists for socialism, affirmative action, Spanish <\/em>as our first language, and the end of a \u201cwar on drugs\u201d that has left a disproportionately large number of young black and Hispanic males incarcerated and dead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Third, they must forswear all talk of a \u201cWar on Terror\u201d or \u201cIslamism\u201d or whatever they want to call it, for whatever name they assign to the belligerents upon whom they would have the U.S. military set its sights, those belligerents are non-white.\u00a0 How can Republicans expect to win elections if they are seen by non-whites as the white party that wishes to go to war with non-whites?<\/p>\n

The truth of the matter is that as long as there remains a Democrat Party that non-whites can call home, there will be nothing that Republicans can do to keep them from flocking to it.<\/p>\n

A strategy other than racial pandering is in order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to three million mostly Hispanic immigrants in 1986, Republicans feel all but compelled to grant amnesty to eleven million such immigrants in 2013.\u00a0 When asked why Republicans are more open to pursuing \u201ca pathway to citizenship\u201d today than they were just a few years back, John McCain offered a reply…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAmnesty: Racial Pandering Is Not the Way for GOP<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amnesty: Racial Pandering Is Not the Way for GOP\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Because Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to three million mostly Hispanic immigrants in 1986, Republicans feel all but compelled to grant amnesty to eleven million such immigrants in 2013.\u00a0 When asked why Republicans are more open to pursuing \u201ca pathway to citizenship\u201d today than they were just a few years back, John McCain offered a reply…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-29T17:23:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jack Kerwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Amnesty: Racial Pandering Is Not the Way for GOP","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Amnesty: Racial Pandering Is Not the Way for GOP","og_description":"Because Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to three million mostly Hispanic immigrants in 1986, Republicans feel all but compelled to grant amnesty to eleven million such immigrants in 2013.\u00a0 When asked why Republicans are more open to pursuing \u201ca pathway to citizenship\u201d today than they were just a few years back, John McCain offered a reply…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html","og_site_name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","article_published_time":"2013-01-29T17:23:22+00:00","author":"Jack Kerwick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html","name":"Amnesty: Racial Pandering Is Not the Way for GOP","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-01-29T17:23:22+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-29T17:23:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2013\/01\/amnesty-racial-pandering-is-not-the-way-for-gop.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Amnesty: Racial Pandering Is Not the Way for GOP"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/","name":"At the Intersection of Faith and Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Jack Kerwick","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/6832222998cc14717ded1849531201c5","name":"Jack Kerwick","description":"I have a Ph.D. in philosophy from Temple University, a master's degree in philosophy from Baylor University, and a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religious studies from Wingate University. I teach philosophy at several colleges in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jackkerwick.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/author\/jkerwick"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/399"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":735,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734\/revisions\/735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}