Immigration Reform Will Not Help The GOP

Anytime an idea emerges from the DC media echo chamber and this many people agree that it's true, you should immediately become suspicious. The most recent example is that the GOP needs to help pass immigration reform in order to save themselves electorally. You hear this from John McCain, Marco Rubio to left leaning pundits everywhere and to be fair, it does makes some sense. The GOP has a problem with how non-white people perceive their party, and they should probably do something about it if they want to win another national election. The problem is that it has very little to do with passing comprehensive immigration reform.

The thinking in GOP circles (like Sean Hannity said after the election) is that if you pass CIR, you are now on equal footing with Latinos again, evening out your electoral math, and the problem is solved. Ironically, conservatives come to this extremely wrong conclusion because of their inherently racist attitudes about non white people. If you believed that non-white voters voted Democratic because of the "gifts" that party gives them (as Mitt Romney articulated), then it makes perfect sense that you solve your problem with Latino voters by giving them their own "gift". This idea is so racist it's laughable, since people of color are human beings that that (just like Mitt Romney), can make up their own minds based on a variety of factors. Also, one look at the unemployment rate for African Americans or the record deportations during the last 4 will tell you that there have been no "gifts" to be had for either of those communities during Obama's presidency.

So if it isn't "gifts", why do these constituenties vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic party? It really isn't that complicated. People don't want to be members of/vote for groups that don't want them as members. And even though there are some non-neanderthals in the Republican party on this issue, the pressure from the base is too strong for many of them to exist. For every Marco Rubio or John McCain, there are ten Steve King wanna bes who would face a primary challenge in a heartbeat if they started speaking about people of color as human beings.

So let's get back to immigration reform and why it's passage won't help the Republican party. The way this works (in the best case senario) is that a bill passes the senate with an overwhelming majority of Democratic votes. The Republican speaker of the house is pressured to bring the bill up against his will, and it passes with almost all Democratic votes. It comes out of committee (as Republicans are publically seen making the bill harsher on undocumented immigrants) and passes both houses once again with huge number of Democratic votes over loud (and probably racist) Republican objections. Meanwhile, the reason for the Republican's anti-person of color stance, their base, will be out in full force at large rallies, vocally saying racist shit. If you don't believe me, watch the video above from the big rally at the Capital that happened last week.

So what will help Republicans/Conservatives have a better relationship with non white voters? That would be purging the party of their racists and strongly denouncing them, which will never happen because it would mean purging the people who make the Republican party happen from the Republican party. No one in their right mind would do that, and even if they did, as long as there is strong support racist ideas among their base, there always will be an opportunistic politician to embrace them. The problem is the people with the Republican party, and until they die off, they're pretty much fucked on any issue that requires a taking non-racist stance.