Dems - Take a page from this book.
As I implied at the end of yesterday's "Saturdaytorial," one of the few levers the Dems have to pry apart the current Republican party support is the uneasy melding of big business and religious "conservatives" to make the current Republican voting and financing block. On several issues, there's a fault line, a fracture, between those two groups and their interests that can be exploited by highlighting issues like immigration.
The "corporate," or better said "money" side of the Republican party wants to maintain roughly the current systems on immigration ensuring them not only cheap immigrant labor, but also a constant downward press on low wage jobs overall, while the "fundamental" Republicans are offended by the current immigration policies both because it violates their hyperreal sense of "law and order" as well as directly threatening jobs and echoing the broader trend of outsourcing.
I don't know exactly how to press this issue, I haven't seen an immigration plan that I would fully endorse, but if the Dems want to exploit this, they need to force Republican leadership to take a stand on this issue. The Dems need to force the Republican leadership to make their stance on this issue very public and very clear. Doing so is certain to make one side or the other of the party less enthusiastic about being Republicans and that will win elections.
That's one of the reasons the "gay marriage" issue was so interesting to me. In that case, both the religious, for biblically based(?) bigoted reasons, and the corporate, for economic reasons (lower healthcare and benefits costs,) aligned. Within both wings of the Republican party, gay marriage was a winner.
So, whenever I see something like this, my ears prick up. Another issue that might be used to fracture the Republican coalition.
(And, by the way, I'm urging the Dems to go after the big business side of the Republicans on these issues not the fundies.)
The "corporate," or better said "money" side of the Republican party wants to maintain roughly the current systems on immigration ensuring them not only cheap immigrant labor, but also a constant downward press on low wage jobs overall, while the "fundamental" Republicans are offended by the current immigration policies both because it violates their hyperreal sense of "law and order" as well as directly threatening jobs and echoing the broader trend of outsourcing.
I don't know exactly how to press this issue, I haven't seen an immigration plan that I would fully endorse, but if the Dems want to exploit this, they need to force Republican leadership to take a stand on this issue. The Dems need to force the Republican leadership to make their stance on this issue very public and very clear. Doing so is certain to make one side or the other of the party less enthusiastic about being Republicans and that will win elections.
That's one of the reasons the "gay marriage" issue was so interesting to me. In that case, both the religious, for biblically based(?) bigoted reasons, and the corporate, for economic reasons (lower healthcare and benefits costs,) aligned. Within both wings of the Republican party, gay marriage was a winner.
So, whenever I see something like this, my ears prick up. Another issue that might be used to fracture the Republican coalition.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., March 11 (AP) — A ballot proposal promoting embryonic stem cell research is turning conservatives against one another in Missouri and threatening to tear apart the state Republican Party at the height of its modern-day influence.
(And, by the way, I'm urging the Dems to go after the big business side of the Republicans on these issues not the fundies.)
posted by mikevotes at
7:10 AM
3 Comments:
That's how Reagan created the "Big tent". He lured those Democrats whose religious beliefs would not let the support Roe vs. Wade in to the party by adopting the abortion plank for the platform.
You're right, the partnership between the two factions has always been uneasy as one side professes to have morals and ethics while the other only has money on their mind. (prophets vs. profits)
By
Lew Scannon, at 10:04 AM
While big business is definately on one side of the debate, I don't think that it's fair to say that the religious right is on the other side. There is a wing of the Republican party that is most definately against letting illegal immigrants stay, but they are the more law and order Republicans rather than the religious right.
By
Charlie, at 12:55 PM
And, Lew, that's a really good point about Reagan I should have included. To some degree it's the mirror image of what I'm talking about. Wish I'd have thought of it as an example.
Fair argument, Charlie. Point taken. Certainly the sides on immigration sebate are not as clear as I presented them. My intended point was to show how an issue could be used to fractionalize the Republican support base forcing them repeatedly state their position on an issue alienating one group.
But you're right. The positions and motivations are a spectrum on an issue like immigration are a spectrum which crosses all kinds of groups and both parties.
By
mikevotes, at 1:43 PM
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