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January 01, 2005
 For
Immigration Realists, An OK Old Year—A Happier New Year
By
Joe Guzzardi
Happy New Year to all the VDARE.COM
readers who have supported my columns since they first
appeared in
November 2001.
I have been touched and inspired by
the hundreds of e-mails you have sent me during the last
three years.
Speaking as someone who has cranked
out hundreds of thousands of words about
immigration reform since 1988—occasionally wondering
what impact those words may have—I cannot adequately
express how welcome your encouragement is.
I am fortunate to work with my
equally dedicated VDARE.COM colleagues.
Special thanks go to my editor,
Peter Brimelow, who provides me with just the right mix
of
guidance and journalistic freedom. And thanks also to
James Fulford for inserting the
hyperlinks into all the VDARE.COM columns that make
them immensely more interesting and informative.
To my columnist friends who double
as grassroots activists—Dave
Gorak,
D.A. King and
Brenda Walker—I wish an especially rewarding 2005.
Banging heads against the immigration crisis by day then
writing about it by night is a heavy load.
And to the other VDARE.COM
contributors with whom I have met and from whom I have
learned, all best wishes in 2005:
Thomas Allen,
Sam Francis,
Michelle Malkin,
Juan Mann,
Ed Rubenstein,
Linda Thom and
Steve Sailer.
Most importantly to our friend Allan
Wall, who will
ship out to Iraq with his
National Guard unit any day now, I send special
wishes and prayers.
Summarizing 2004, we had a good—if
not quite great—year.
Earlier this week, Michelle wrote a
sober and 100% accurate assessment of where the
immigration reform movement stands. Her bottom line: as
long as the
borders remain open, the U.S. is in
trouble.
No one can argue.
But closing the borders will be our
final triumph. Before that will happen
grassroots momentum for reform must build to such a
level that the federal government can no longer ignore
it.
We’re not quite there yet. But we
are marching tirelessly toward that goal.
Let’s take a longer view of progress
toward immigration reform by comparing where we were a
few years ago to where we are today.
Here, over roughly five years, is
what we’ve accomplished:
- The Internet, through
webzines like VDARE.COM and dozens of
blogs, have stripped the major news dailies—most
obviously the New York Times, the Los Angeles
Times and the Chicago Tribune—of any
pretense that they report professionally or without
bias about immigration. Newspaper immigration coverage
is so bad I am embarrassed for the reporters even if
they are not embarrassed for themselves.
- Through the efforts of two
immigration reform warriors,
Roy Beck of Americans for Better Immigration and
Craig Nelsen of
Project USA, the Congressional
voting records of the entire U.S. Senate and U.S.
Congress are merely a click away for any activist who
wants to hound his representative.
- The
Immigration Reform Caucus, formed in 1999, now has
nearly 80 members. During the 109th
Congress, more will join. Chairman
Tom Tancredo says that when he travels throughout
America, he is widely recognized and thanked for his
efforts.
Most importantly, immigration reform
was a campaign issue in dozens of 2004 elections. Our
side lost more than we won. But the important thing is
that we fielded good, solid candidates—too numerous to
list—who never backed down.
Each of them is a trailblazer.
Consider this analysis that
California Republican Ed Laning shared regarding his
Congressional loss to
incumbent Joe Baca:
Summarizing his campaign as
“extraordinary,” Laning pointed out that
“I
received 44,000 votes and Joe Baca received 76,000 votes.
The Republican candidate who ran in 2002 received 20,000
votes, so we made progress.
Look at the trend. Laning, running
hard on a serious immigration reform platform against an
avowed
reconquista, got more than twice the votes of the
2002 challenger.
It’s taking time. But we are getting
there.
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. |
