More for mbs and his and our's hmm file.
Michael Pugliese
----- Original Message ----- From: Linda Muller <linda at buchanan.org> To: <brigade at brigade.wwol.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 12:28 PM Subject: [BRIGADE] Blue Collars Find a Voice
> Dear Brigade,
>
> This excellent article was s-mailed to me by David Mikitka - Illinois
Brigade.
> If you have not read it already, enjoy! It is one of John O'Sullivan's
best!
>
> GO PAT GO!!!!!!!!!!!
> Linda
>
> -------------------------------
>
> Chicago Sun Times - January 25, 2000
>
> Blue Collars Find a Voice - by John O'Sullivan
>
> Big Media pipesuckers always are lamenting "sound-bite politics" and
> calling for political candidates to address serious issues in a serious
> way. Yet when Patrick J. Buchanan devoted a thoughtful speech to the topic
> of immigration policy last week, he received almost no coverage.
>
> In part, that was because his speech was serious. Its analysis--that
> America should admit as many immigrants as it can assimilate without risk
> of balkanization--was persuasive. Its proposals--notably, reducing legal
> immigration to 300,000 new entrants a year--were moderate.
>
> And its tone--which praised the contributions of hardworking immigrants to
> American prosperity--was, ahem, sensitive. Nothing there to justify such
> headlines as "Pitchfork Pat Lashes Latinos." No inflammatory sound-bites.
> Hence zero coverage.
>
> But there also may be other forces at play here. In his recent book,
> Heaven's Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy, (Princeton
> University Press), Harvard economist George J. Borjas, himself a Cuban
> immigrant, points out that mass immigration is among other things a class
> issue. It benefits better-off Americans and damages low-paid and unskilled
> ones.
>
> Drawing heavily on Borjas' analysis, Buchanan made this point a central
> argument in his speech: "If you are likely to employ a gardener or
> housekeeper, you may be financially better off. If you work as a gardener
> or housekeeper, or at a factory job in which unskilled immigrants are
> rapidly joining the labor force, you lose. . . . Mr. Borjas estimates that
> one half of the relative fall in the wages of high school graduates since
> the 1980s can be traced to directly to mass immigration. . . . Americans
> today who do poorly in high school are increasingly condemned to a
> low-wage existence, and mass immigration is a major reason why."
>
> If this is an interesting way of looking at mass immigration, it is also
> an unusual take on the American working class. When was the last time you
> heard a politician judge a major national issue from the standpoint of
> blue-collar interests? It almost never happens. Indeed, politicians in
> both major parties often argue, with an astonishing lack of embarrassment,
> that we need high levels of immigration to power our high-tech industries
> because Americans kids just can't hack it.
>
> In effect this writes off millions of hardworking Americans. Instead of
> improving U.S. high schools, we import clever people. And anyone who
> questions this approach and suggests that American elites should place the
> economic interests of these fellow Americans above those of even talented
> and virtuous foreigners is liable to be dismissed as a "nativist" even if,
> like me or Borjas, he is himself an immigrant.
>
> Steve Sailer of Chicago, president of the Internet-based Human
> Biodiversity Institute, argues that this sort of attitude reflects the
> little-noticed new class divisions of American society. Intelligence
> testing, SATs and merit-based selection procedures of American education
> cream off the ablest children of blue-collar and poor families and send
> them to college, including the Ivy League, and onto high-status,
> high-income jobs.
>
> Once they might have become blue-collar leaders in labor unions; today
> they are more likely to sit on the management side of the table--from
> which position they are likely to share the interest of other better-off
> Americans in the low-paid maids, nannies and gardeners made available by
> mass immigration. Indeed, by championing the cause of these
> immigrants--which is not hard to do since they really are decent,
> hardworking people--the first-generation new class elitists are even able
> to paint a patina of idealism on their economic self-interest.
>
> As Sailer notes, the media elite itself is very much part of this new
> elitist mind-set. National newspapers, magazines and network news
> programs tend to be written by Ivy Leaguers who face almost no competition
> from
> immigrants themselves but who want cheap child care and interesting ethnic
> restaurants. Naturally they see little or no "problem" with immigration.
> Its impact on them is entirely beneficial. In an increasingly stratified
> society they know few blue-collar workers whose lives have been damaged by
> it. They have no incentive to probe more deeply into the economic
> relationships established by Borjas. And they can keep any nagging doubts
> at bay by denouncing as racists and xenophobes those like Peter Brimelow,
> author of the readable but profound polemic Alien Nation, who draw their
> attention to the problem.
>
> When Buchanan's speech failed to fit this stereotype, it hit the spike and
> immigration remained the great unaddressed problem of national politics.
> Yet millions of Americans sense it is depriving them of the American
> dream. They have not spoken yet. One day they will.
>
> ------------- end ------------------
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> T H E I N T E R N E T B R I G A D E
> Linda Muller - WebMaster
> Post Office Box 650266, Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165
> Email: http://www.buchanan.org/form-contact.html
> Web: http://www.buchanan.org
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Have You O F F I C I A L L Y E N L I S T E D Yet?
> http://www.buchanan.org/form-enlistment.html
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> The One and Only B R I G A D E Email List!
> To Subscribe or Unsubscribe send an email to:
> brigade-request at brigade.wwol.com
>
> With the Message: SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~