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July 03, 2005
Independence
Day And The
WSJ Edit Page
On July 3, 1984, the Wall Street
Journal Editorial Page published an editorial
called
In Praise
of Huddled Masses, which proposed an
amendment to the Constitution: "There shall be open
borders."
It pulled out all the economic and
sentimental clichés about immigration—and completely
ignored the realities of
immigrant crime,
immigrant welfare, etc.
In passing, it attacked Senator
Alan Simpson, (R-Wyoming)
co-sponsor, with Rep. Romano Mazzoli, (D.-Kentucky)
of the Simpson-Mazzoli bill, without actually naming
him. "[T]the ‘nativist’
Americans who still dominate Mountain States politics"
is how the WSJ put it.
Two years later,
Michael Kinsley was saying they hadn't gone far
enough.
“But
the Journal's hypocrisy is in concluding that,
therefore, nothing needs to be done. As the conservative
mantra goes, ‘If it ain't broke, don't fix it.’ The
Journal once, in passing, proposed a constitutional
amendment saying, ‘There shall be open borders,’ but
immediately called its own proposal ‘overly ambitious.’
Its general position is that we should ‘leave bad enough
alone.’” An Open U.S. Door for Both Political and
Economic Refugees By Michael Kinsley. Wall Street
Journal Apr 3, 1986.
Throughout the rest of the
Nineties, the WSJ recycled this editorial four
more times, enough that it became a tradition:
 | The Rekindled Flame,
Jul 3, 1986. Compared the
Border Patrol to Darth Vader: "A
recent news photo depicted the guards wearing
helmets equipped with infrared telescopes to better
track today's tired and poor. The question for this
Independence Day is which symbol more accurately
represents this country's attitude toward the modern
equivalent of our desperate immigrant forbears --
the Statue of Liberty or the Darth Vaders trying to
‘get control of our borders’?" |
| Simpson-Volstead-Mazzoli,
Jul 3, 1987 Compared border control to Prohibition:
“‘We have lost control of our borders.’ Nativist
Americans cried that loud enough to obtain a new
law. Immigrants, they wailed, were swarming over the
Mexican border. They were taking jobs. They were a
burden to the people of this country. Congress
passed Simpson-Mazzoli-Rodino and Ronald Reagan
signed it last November.” |
| The Rekindled Flame,
Jul 3, 1989 Opened with the
Emma Lazarus poem, and still doesn't like the
Border Patrol: “Yet
other, less noble images lurk in the background of
our July 4th celebrations: the guards who patrol our
2,000-mile border with Mexico; news photos of
rickety wooden boats, laden with Vietnamese, sitting
in the harbors of Hong Kong.” |
| The Rekindled Flame,
Jul 3, 1990 The same
again, but this time they added a pseudo-civil
rights note: “…Reports by government agencies
that the nation's immigration law has indeed caused
widespread hiring discrimination against
non-whites.” |
Then, for some reason, the WSJ
stopped—for ten years. No one knows why.
With the election of Presidents
Bush, (Norte Nafta) America, and
Fox, (Nafta del Sud) and the possibility of a
huge amnesty, the WSJ started again, with
signed pieces by the late, lamented,
Robert L. Bartley.
But that was the last time this
peculiar constitutional amendment was mentioned in the
WSJ.
This time, we know why.
September 11, 2001 made the idea of
Open Borders so
obviously dangerous that they didn't think they
could possibly get away with it.
They're still in there plugging for
cheap labor, though. As recently as June 20,
Tamar Jacoby was trying to push amnesty by telling
amnesty pushers they needed to change the name. [“Getting
Beyond the 'A-Word']
We do have our own Independence Day
editorials here at VDARE.com, you can read them below.
On the other hand, you could go
enjoy yourself.
The day after the Declaration of
Independence was proclaimed, John Adams
said this:
“The
fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the
history of America. I am apt to believe it will be
celebrated by succeeding generations, as the great
anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the
day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to
Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp,
shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and
illuminations this from one end of the continent to the
other, from this time forward forever.”
He was right. Go prove it.
Vdare.com's Independence Day columns:
View From Lodi, CA:
It’s the Bombe—An Independence Day Ice Cream
Extravaganza!!
July 04, 2003
On Independence Day: Fly The Flag – But Defend The
Nation
July 03, 2004
A Patriotic Hispanic Reflects On Independence Day
July 03, 2001 -
Wall Street Journal: Independence Day Means Immigration!
July 04, 2002 -
Immigration Day?
July 03, 2004
Jack Kemp vs. George Washington On Independence Day
July 04, 2001
Patriotic Bore
July 02, 2004
View From Lodi, CA: Pass Up The Politicians This
Independence Day |
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