The Parable Of The Prodigal Wilson
In my column
last week, I wrote that former California
governor
Pete Wilson, because of his
fierce stand eight years ago against illegal
immigration, is probably the most popular
Republican in the state.
Wilson acquired his mantle by
default. Neither of the Republicans who have since run
for governor—Dan Lungren and Bill Simon—has stirred the
voter`s passions. And the same goes for defeated Senate
candidates Matt Fong and Tom Campbell.
And, if it is all the same to you,
I`m not ready to jump on the Arnold Schwarzenegger
bandwagon just yet. Although Schwarzenegger`s
Proposition 49 won, I consider that a minor victory.
In California, all you have to do is label something
“for the kids” and people vote yes.
The question I posed a week ago was
whether recent Republican candidates for California high
office were
serious about winning – or merely going through the
motions hoping for a miracle.
No California politician attempting
to unseat an incumbent has a prayer if he is too
intimidated to mention the financial and emotional costs
of runaway immigration.
That Lungren, Fong, Campbell and
Simon were handily defeated proves my point. All avoided
mentioning immigration—which ranks #1 on the list of
concerns of most Californians—and paid for their
political correctness with stinging defeats.
In an e-mail, faithful VDARE.COM
reader
Byron Slater from San Diego reminded me that early
in his career, Wilson was pro-immigration.
Slater, of the
Border Solution Task Force, pointed out that when
Wilson was
San Diego`s mayor in the 1970s, he endorsed a “no
support” position regarding arresting illegal aliens
i.e. his city government wouldn`t help
enforce the law.
And in the 1980s, then-Senator
Wilson submitted several bills proposing to renew the
old
bracero-type
guest worker programs. One of Wilson`s versions,
which would have allowed 350,000 agricultural guest
workers into the U.S., was passed by the Senate.
But by the
mid-1990s, when Wilson was governor of California,
immigration`s
financial impact on the state was unmistakable. And
the alarming trend in unfettered immigration weighed on
voter`s minds.
So Wilson took the initiative,
hammered away at the costs of illegal immigration and in
his 1994 re-election race against Kathleen Brown,
snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Until two
months before Election Day, Wilson was no more popular
in California than Gray Davis is today.
This might make Wilson appear the
most cynical of politicians: trailing in the polls, he
grabs onto an emotionally-charged issue and rides it
down the home stretch to finish first.
Maybe California Republicans should
get more cynical!
But a problem with this explanation
is that California of the early 1970s and 1980s was not
the same as California of the mid-1990s. By the time
Wilson ran for his second term, immigration had
transformed the once-Golden State. The problems caused
by immigration when Wilson was San Diego mayor and U.S.
Senator appear quaint in comparison with those caused by
the invasion that began in the 1990s.
In his 1998 book
The California Cauldron: Immigration and the Fortunes
of Local Communities, U.C.L.A. professor
William A.V. Clark charted the changes that came
over the state slowly beginning in 1965 and which
accelerated throughout the next three decades.
(Professor Clark`s findings are summarized in a Center
for Immigration Studies Backgrounder,
"Immigration and California Communities.")
Among Clark`s conclusions is that,
while politicians and voters have not focused on
immigration per se, immigration-related issues grow more
compelling every year. Of the hundreds of facts Clark
points to in his book, here is a handful:
- More than four million new immigrants were
counted in California in the last decade.
- Los Angeles county has more than half a
million
Limited English Proficiency students.
- In Los Angeles, more than a
quarter of all foreign born live in
poverty.
Although immigration has become an
even more
overwhelming issue in California since Wilson left
office, since then no politician has been willing to
touch it.
But if immigration reform was a
winner for Wilson in 1994, imagine what it would be
today for any politician with the guts to stand up for
the people`s will!
I believe the 2002 election had
lessons aplenty for California Republicans:
- Refuse to discuss immigration
and you will most certainly lose, especially if you
are trying to unseat an incumbent.
- Campaign on immigration reform
and the scams associated with illegal immigration and
you have an excellent chance of winning.
As
examples, see the overwhelming victory of the
much-denounced Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo.
But also take note of Georgia Governor Ray Barnes`
defeat. Remember that Barnes led a contingent of Georgia
business men to
visit Vicente Fox and later in his term vigorously
favored
driver`s licenses for illegal aliens.
Republican Elizabeth Dole who spoke
out against benefits to illegal aliens in her brief run
for the presidential nomination in 2000 won a landslide
victory for the North Carolina Senate.
Tennessee`s
Marsha Blackburn linked the soaring costs of public
service programs to the state`s rising numbers of
illegal aliens. Blackburn was elected to Congress
with over 70% of the vote.
Last but certainly not least, let
all future office seekers note that the much-ballyhooed
theory of the importance of the Latino vote was a total
bust.
In her October 28 New York Times
Op-ed titled
“A Voting Bloc Without a Party,” Tamar Jacoby,
still being auditioned for the post of Establishment
“Conservative” immigration enthusiasm
enforcer, wrote about why both
Republicans and Democrats
need to “woo” and “court” Latino voters.
But as things turned out, a better
title for Jacoby`s piece would have been, “A Voting Bloc
That Doesn`t Vote.”
The Latino advocacy groups continue
to fire blanks. Unfortunately, our political elite
continues to listen.
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English at the Lodi
Adult School, has been writing a weekly newspaper column
since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM.


