Apparently, Republicans are now unhappy with the 14th amendment they passed 145 years ago. More specifically, the provision that guarantees citizenship to all persons born in the United States.
So why the sudden hard-on against illegal immigrants? What’s made it so important now that the Overton Window is being pushed to the point that the 14th amendment needs to be changed?
Could it be that in these troubled economic times, people are bitter and pissed off, and need someone to blame? Obviously the GOP doesn’t want their base to point fingers at the greed of big business in the wake of financial deregulation, so they chose a different target: Illegal immigrants. They’re different from us! THEY TOOK OUR JOBS! :rolleyes:
What do you mean, sudden? Xenophobia always sells.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” - not Sinclair Lewis, nor Huey Long, apparently, but still pithy and applicable.
Nasty fucking Republicans. Of course the Democrats have only noble intentions in wanting all of these illegal and coincidentally poor aliens becoming citizens as soon as possible.
In times of economic hardship, populations often need a scapegoat to blame for their economic woes. Minorities are often used in this role, because it’s quite convenient to blame the “other” or the “newcomer”. People search for an explanation about why they are having troubles, and it’s very comforting to blame someone else rather than uncontrollable complex externalities for your problems.
I’m sure that when mammoths were in short supply, some Cro-magnon leader came up with the idea of killing Tharg, because he came from the Turgto tribe, and everyone knows that the Turgto tribe are dirty, smelly and cause bad luck with the hunt.
It’s also rather ironic in this instance because the number of illegal immigrants has actually decreased the last couple years when the economy went in the tank.
In any case, the right-wing has been cultivating xenophobia for years. The scapegoating of illegal immigrants is just one example. You can also see it in the demonization of Muslims in instances like the proposed mosque to be built near Ground Zero. It was also evident in their campaign against health care reform when one of their arguments was that such a plan would make America be like those godless and sexually degenerate socialists in Europe.
Some people suck, and require someone to hate at all times. Some people suck even more than that, and require someone to actually *persecute *at all times.
This is quite a coincidence, because I myself was wondering what was up with Republicans’ thinking on this issue. So naturally, I thought I’d check the Straight Dope Message Board, an excellent source of unbiased and neutral analysis of the subject.
Hmmm… let’s see… “racism,” “racism,” and “more racism,” seem to be the favorite theories.
What is your alternate explanation? Fine, upright citizens have suddenly decided (in the middle of a recession and high unemployment) that they must uphold the letter of the law, and the best way to do this is to demonize anyone who is in your country without all the “t’s” crossed. Is that your explanation?
Or do you have an explanation? Did you just come into this thread to shit and laugh?