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Opinion Patrick Buchanan: How The GOP Lost Middle America – OpEd
The Albany Tribune ^ | January 30, 2014 | Patrick J Buchanan

Posted on 01/31/2014 4:11:14 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo

Out of the Republican retreat on Maryland’s Eastern shore comes word that the House leadership is raising the white flag of surrender on immigration.

The GOP will agree to halt the deportation of 12 million illegal aliens, and sign on to a blanket amnesty. It only asks that the 12 million not be put on a path to citizenship.

Sorry, but losers do not dictate terms. Rich Trumka of the AFL-CIO says amnesty is no longer enough. Illegal aliens must be put on a path to citizenship and given green cards to work — and join unions.

Rep. Paul Ryan and the Wall Street Journal are for throwing in the towel. Legalize them all and start them on the path to citizenship.

A full and final capitulation. Let’s get it over with.

To understand why and how the Republican Party lost Middle America, and faces demographic death, we need to go back to Bush I.

At the Cold War’s end, the GOP reached a fork in the road. The determination of Middle Americans to preserve the country they grew up in, suddenly collided with the profit motive of Corporate America.

The Fortune 500 wanted to close factories in the USA and ship production abroad — where unions did not exist, regulations were light, taxes were low, and wages were a fraction of what they were here in America.

Corporate America was going global and wanted to be rid of its American work force, the best paid on earth, and replace it with cheap foreign labor.

While manufacturing sought to move production abroad, hotels, motels, bars, restaurants, farms and construction companies that could not move abroad also wanted to replace their expensive American workers.

Thanks to the Republican Party, Corporate America got it all.

U.S. factories in the scores of thousands were shut down, shedding their American workers. Foreign-made goods poured in, filling U.S. stores and killing the manufacturers who had stayed behind, loyal to their U.S. workers.

The Reagan prosperity was exported to Asia and China by the Bush Republicans. And the Reagan Democrats reciprocated by deserting the Bush Republican Party and going home. But this was not the end of what this writer described in his 1998 book, “The Great Betrayal.”

As those hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, fast-food shops, car washes, groceries and other service industries also relished the rewards of cheap foreign labor, they got government assistance in replacing their American workers.

Since 1990, some 30 to 40 million immigrants, legal and illegal, have entered the country.

This huge increase in the labor force, at the same time the U.S. was shipping factories abroad, brought massive downward pressure on wages. The real wages of Middle Americans have stagnated for decades.

What was wildly wonderful for Corporate America was hell on Middle America. But the Republican Party had made its choice. It had sold its soul to the multinationals. And as it went along with NAFTA, GATT, fast track and mass immigration, to appease Corporate America, it lost Middle America.

The party went with the folks who paid for their campaigns, only to lose the folks who had given them their landslides.

When Republicans accede to the demand for amnesty, and immigration without end, it does not take a political genius to see what is going to happen. For it is happening now.

Almost all of those breaking our laws, crossing the border, and overstaying their visas are young, poor or working class. Between 80 and 90 percent are from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.

They are Third World peoples. They believe in government action and government programs that provide their families with free education, health care, housing, food, and income subsidies. They are not Bob Taft or Barry Goldwater conservatives.

Perhaps 85 percent of all immigrants, legal and illegal, more than a million a year now, are people of color. And while over 70 percent of Hispanics and Asians voted Democratic for Obama, among voters of African descent, the Obama vote was well above 90 percent.

Four of every five U.S. citizens of Asian, African and Hispanic descent vote Democratic in presidential elections. And it is their numbers that are growing. Already they are well over a third of the U.S. population.

As has been observed often, America, demographically, is going to look like California. And while Nixon won California all five times he was on a national ticket, and Reagan won California in landslides all four times he ran, California has not gone Republican in six straight presidential elections.

Democrats outnumber Republicans there by more than two-to-one in the Congressional delegation and in the state assembly, and not a single Republican holds statewide office.

If Bush I had built that border fence back in 1992 and declared a moratorium on legal immigration that fall, as many implored him to do, the party of the Bushes would not be facing its demise well before midcentury.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; americafirster; patbuchanan
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Protectionism, of the border and our domestic industries, looks better every day.
1 posted on 01/31/2014 4:11:14 AM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Not passing NAFTA/GATT would not have resulted in protectionism. Those systems are managed trade, not free trade. Our prosperity and economic liberty have been managed away by design.


2 posted on 01/31/2014 4:16:33 AM PST by oblomov
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Interesting point of view from Mr. Buchanan, but it fails to take into account that we only have one party, the uniparty.


3 posted on 01/31/2014 4:22:39 AM PST by RKBA Democrat (Having some small say in who gets to hold the whip doesn't make you any less a slave.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
Sorry, but losers do not dictate terms....

No truer statement was ever made. The GOP is, in fact, a sorry bunch of losers who have let their second-tier power and lifestyle of ease and appeasement rot their brains.

They are in the midst of a surrender that will sell the sovereignty of my country down the crapper. If they think there will be no repercussions, then they are indeed as clueless as they seem. It will be a cold day in hell before I ever vote for one of them again.

4 posted on 01/31/2014 4:25:15 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

A little bit of hyperbole since middle America primarily votes Republican. But he brings up some good historical points.


5 posted on 01/31/2014 4:35:34 AM PST by nhwingut (This tagline is for lease)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
American businesses were uncompetitive. Unions were strangling one industry after another with the help of the government regulations.

The clothing industry, the steel industry and many other manufacturing industries went out of business in America in the 1970’s and 1980’s. The auto industry survives but had to be bailed out by taxpayers.

Jobs went overseas long before the presidency of Bush I. The only question was whether American corporations could survive or would be gradually destroyed along with the manufacturing in the U.S.

NAFTA had many flaws but it was not the problem.

Today illegals have more rights than most Americans. They drive without insurance. They commit crimes. They get many fraudulent identities and are never prosecuted. They go to emergency rooms and get free medical care.

The politicians have betrayed America. The elections are fraudulent. The middle class is being slowly forced out of existence.

6 posted on 01/31/2014 4:37:38 AM PST by detective
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

ummmm... none of that happened until NAFTA and the clintons... which was catalyzed by the death of Sam Walton, which opened then door to walmart replacing the American made goods to chinese made goods. this was all put into motion while HRClinton was on the board of directors at walmart. once they took office, they cemented the trade status of china and the push to offshore manufacturing began.

now, i’m no fan of anyone pushing for bigger govt and one world order (the biggest govt)... but let’s try to keep the facts straight.


7 posted on 01/31/2014 4:44:24 AM PST by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: RKBA Democrat

Pat is of course right, but he has been soundly rejected by the little uninformed Republican primary voters, who never seem to get much right.


8 posted on 01/31/2014 4:59:01 AM PST by Theodore R. (TX Republicans to endorse Cornball and George P! Stay tuned March 4)
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To: detective

All true, but the American people are too unformed to understand any of this.


9 posted on 01/31/2014 5:00:19 AM PST by Theodore R. (TX Republicans to endorse Cornball and George P! Stay tuned March 4)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
I disagree with some of the underlying points in this article. For one thing, the off-shoring of American industry was almost a "natural" turn of events. Most American manufacturing workers were going to lose their jobs one way or another -- through automation or outsourcing. Ironically, the U.S. has become more attractive to manufacturers today because labor costs and energy costs in Asia make an automated facility in the U.S. a more cost-effective way to manufacture than an automated facility in Asia.

Secondly, the discussion of this topic changes once you realize that these immigrants aren't being brought to the U.S. not as cheap labor, but as new customers. For most leaders in corporate America, it doesn't matter if they are productive citizens, or even if they are employed at all. A welfare queen is a huge business opportunity for many industries, including the largest industry of all here in the U.S. -- government.

"Middle America" spent the last 40 years aborting a huge portion of its next generation away. It's no coincidence that the number of immigrants (illegal or not) in the U.S. since then is almost identical to the number of our own progeny who have been eradicated since Roe v. Wade.

10 posted on 01/31/2014 5:07:00 AM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

“The party went with the folks who paid for their campaigns, only to lose the folks who had given them their landslides.”

Pat nails it here.

And to think the GOPe is considering to run Romney again in 2016...unbelievable but not surprising knowing the base has stopped contributing leaving only the mega millionare mega egos like Romney to feast on the carcass of the GOP.

Is it really only about who has the money and desire?

But then Ted Cruz has money behind him and a desire. Why won’t the GOPe get behind him?

Obviously there are aspects of ideology and membership that reflect GOPe decisions made behind the scenes. Bush and the NWO crowd are symbols of what drive the GOPe. This is what underlies the real partition between the ruling class and the country class.

And with the Axis of Soros supporting the takeover of State Secretaries of State and county election offices, the ‘folks’ who have made past landslides possible, that is to say the grassroots voters, become IRRELEVANT in the margins of critical urban county battle sites.

And that’s not all.

The taxpayer is becoming IRRELEVANT. The Federal Reserve is now an international body that participates in trading platforms with CIA as a contractor. I know it sounds strange to many and it is difficult to understand, but the Fed is propping up the US federal government which in turn props up state governments. The Fed also props up other nation states; the USA is no exception. The US taxpayer is becoming lost in the noise.

The Tax code exists only to cut the grass; translation: keep certain types of grassroot blades from getting all uppity like Ted Cruz and his Tea Party terrorists.

All of above reflects a willingness by the GOPe to gravitate away from its base and towards international power and money. In other words, they are sellouts.


11 posted on 01/31/2014 5:19:58 AM PST by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: Alberta's Child

“I disagree with some of the underlying points in this article. For one thing, the off-shoring of American industry was almost a “natural” turn of events.”

Unions and crazy environmental regs DROVE business out of the US and how does Buccannan propose to have stopped them? Also the markets overseas are HUGE and could not be ignored. Everyone in the US has cars, radios, appliances, etc. but there are literally billions of people in developing nations with none of these things. There is no way they could afford a washing machine made by union thugs in the US, so those goods had to be made by cheaper labor. All this was a no brainer from a business point of view. IMO the GOP did lose middle america, it was STOLEN from them by the RAT-media alliance who continually portays them as monsters and is answered by a deafening silence from the GOP.


12 posted on 01/31/2014 5:25:11 AM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (Things are only going to get worse.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Abortion or not, we still have a lot more citizens not working that could be. The work participation levels are way too low to be allowing more folks dependent on tax-subsidization into the country.


13 posted on 01/31/2014 5:31:00 AM PST by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

If the GOP thinks they can get away with voting for an Amnesty for these illegal alians they had better think again.

Just because the Democrats have this country so screwed up doesn’t mean the Repulicans will be a shoe-in in 2016.

If they vote to dilute my constitutional rights by giving them to 2000000 illegals I’ll stay home.Afterall my vote will mean nothing anyway.


14 posted on 01/31/2014 5:31:00 AM PST by puppypusher ( The World is going to the dogs.)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo; All

Free Trade doesn’t work. No evidence it does.

In fact, the biggest supporters of Illegal Alien Amnesty are the biggest supporters of Free Trade

I’d rather pay tariffs than welfare checks and govt programs. It costs a lot less in the long run. Unfortunately Free Traders prefer Income Taxes


15 posted on 01/31/2014 6:25:09 AM PST by SeminoleCounty (Amnesty And Not Ending ObamaCare Will Kill GOP In 2014)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Pat Buchanan sometimes crosses the line, and can be objectionable.

This is NOT one of those times.

Pat Buchanan completely, nails it in this article. He is 100% right.

Completely.

We have sold American success.

American success, has been sold to of all places ... COMMUNIST CHINA.

American businesses need to wake up, and stop selling out their very own success.

Bring back American jobs. I’m completely series.

Now.


16 posted on 01/31/2014 6:32:07 AM PST by Cringing Negativism Network ( http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html#2013)
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To: Brooklyn Attitude

Actually, most of those manufacturing jobs shipped to Communist China and Drug Cartel Mexico were jobs located in Southern non union right to work states...especially our textile and clothing manufacturing

All thru the South there are empty clothing and textile factories...many of those jobs are now govt checks

It was more than just union jobs lost...most manufacturing lost was non union

Free Trade has been a boon for the expanded govt crowd. We had jobs when we had less Free Trade


17 posted on 01/31/2014 6:33:52 AM PST by SeminoleCounty (Amnesty And Not Ending ObamaCare Will Kill GOP In 2014)
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To: Alberta's Child
Secondly, the discussion of this topic changes once you realize that these immigrants aren't being brought to the U.S. not as cheap labor, but as new customers.

BINGO! We have a winner! In the long run, American/illegal/legal doesn't matter to the businesses - they are slowly automating out of business MOST workers.

BUT, the need for more customers is ever growing. Americans, in general, have MOST of their basic needs - more so than most third world citizens - so those who arrive here are not needed to work. They are needed to SPEND money.

Both the companies nor the US Government, really CARE how the customer gets that money: illegal work, welfare, cash jobs, whatever - but they NEED and WANT them to keep priming that GDP pump so that companies collect profits and the government collects taxes!

All the touchy-feelly, bring them out of the shadows, second-tier citizen crap is just a means to sell this BULLSHIT sandwich!
18 posted on 01/31/2014 7:06:06 AM PST by ExTxMarine (PRAYER: It's the only HOPE for real CHANGE in America!)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo
Protectionism, of the border and our domestic industries, looks better every day.

Wow, we agree on something.

19 posted on 01/31/2014 7:14:38 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Hostage

I like your cynicism. Excellent post.


20 posted on 01/31/2014 7:17:34 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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