Could they get 1% of the vote and have their party leaders taken seriously by the media? Which is more than the BNP get.
With a kick out the Muslims and Mexicans, American jobs for Americans, wave the flag about platform could they get anyone elected anywhere? (beyond dogcatchers locking up foreign dog breeds)
Nah, that end of the political spectrum is occupied by the Republicans. If the Republicans moved back to the center, then a BNP party could get somewhere.
America already has something roughly equivalent to the BNP: The America First Party. It has yet to win any election AFAIK, and few non-members even seem to know it exists.
There is also the Constitution Party, which is very similar to America First, and which is a somewhat bigger deal than America First, but which has no real analogue in the UK, as its emphasis is slightly less racial/nationalistic, and slightly more religious, and specifically Evangelical White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant-but-nevertheless-Definitely-not-WASP-Protestant-Christian (where America First’s religio-demographic base is more Roman Catholic/white “ethnic” social-religious conservative, such as Pat Buchanan, the demned papest Fenian dogfucking mackerel-snapper as he is, may no good cess befall his seed, Begorrah).
How witty! How insightful! How utterly ignorant!
ONE, exactly ONE Republican who sought the Presidential nomination. was calling for restrictions on immigration. His name was Tom Tancredo, and he went NOWHERE!
EVERY other leading Republican was pro-immigrant. McCain has always bent over backward to accommodate Mexican immigrants, as did Dubya before him.
Not that it ever helped either at the polls.
You’re ignoring the Republican base, such as the racists who turned out for Palin http://www.oliverwillis.com/2008/10/16/racial-hate-in-full-bloom-at-palin-rally-in-ohio/ , racists orienting more toward the Republican party http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012900642.html , and racism being used by the Republicans against Obama, e.g. Obama the Magic Negro Gigwise | 404 and Obama-bucks BowlOfSerial.com is for sale | HugeDomains . Just google “republican racism”, and start sifting through the results.
So, your Republican party isn’t a prettied-up for public consumption bunch of racists, bible-thumpers, traditionalists and bigots, like our Conservative party?
Maybe I’ve read you wrong.
No, not really. Our political system makes it very, very difficult for third parties to gain elected office, and a GOP that explicitly embraced racism would be roundly trounced at the polls. Won’t happen.
This isn’t really the question, is it? The OP asks about support, not whether they can get representation. Since I’m not AMerican I’ve no idea, but generally there is some support for rightwing parties in most western countries, especially countries that have a lot of “new” immigrants. So there might be a basis for it in the US as well, despite the fact that your political system makes it almost impossible for these parties to get into any sort of office.
Hmm calling for immigration restrictions doesn’t make you a racist. That’s just an easy way to end the discussion.
Can’t see it happening in the near term but I can see it happening at some point. Immigration could very well become a serious issue that if not debated openly could create a vacumn for an extremist group to fill.
I can’t see any future in America where immigration is “not debated openly.”
I certainly hope you are right.
That depends on the immigration restrictions you call for. If you advocate severe restrictions against Mexicans or other Latin Americans coming in, but don’t have any problem with English, German, or French immigrants, then that looks pretty racist.