I can see how from Sailer’s perspective (Vdare permabanned) it’s mainstream. But there is no doubt FR missed a golden opportunity to move the debate on border protection in the early 2000s. The open-border GOPe (cheap labor uber alles!) crowd held far too much sway here at that time. FR was, and is, conservative on most subjects, but in the early 2000s, it was way off the mark on border protection.
I remember it was not allowed to even post articles on the Minutemen! That was a bannable offence! Patriotic Americans who wanted to help the USBP to guard our borders were considered something nasty, near to neo-Nazis here on FR.
Yep, FR missed a golden opportunity to shift the debate back when it would have really mattered. And our border is still wide open.
Far too many Americans desire illegal aliens. Now, 20% of Mexico’s citizens live here, mostly illegally.
Painfully we still have a few holdouts here who see the world though 1980s lenses over immigration and national complexion
FR was for sure mainstream GOP then
The party had big wampum here
People were so lemming like and not very courageous to risk being called racist
The worm has turned though
“Yep, FR missed a golden opportunity to shift the debate back when it would have really mattered.”
The anger that coalesced the support that drove Trump to win could have been generated back in the 2004-2007 timeframe and kept Obama out. It was happening, but so many, FR included, demanded we shut up about illegal aliens, so the fever died out. The eGOP open border, cheap labor, lobby hit FR hard back then. The Minutemen were stomped out of existence. FR helped do that. I know the eGOP FReepers were very much involve din that. They still are. I stopped donating after that. Let the eGOP fund FR.
As you said, it could have mattered, but it was squelched instead.