I just had an epiphany as to why the Right is so steadfastly anti-immigrant. It has nothing to do with jobs. Small business owners employ most of the immigrant labor for the purposes of cost savings, and the majority of small business owners are Conservatives.
It has nothing to do with crime. The right wing has converted crime and the threat of crime into a profit center with their private security firms and prison for profit system. More crime would just mean more money for these businesses.
It has nothing to do with benefits. Illegals don't get benefits. They often travel back to their home countries when they need extensive medical treatment. (It's less expensive there.)
The problem with immigrants is that they are well informed.
The Right survives by perpetuating dogmatic idealism - global warming is a hoax; pollution controls cut jobs; when we cut taxes on the very rich, they give the money back to everyone else; owning a gun makes you safer; domestic labor costs so much that we can't hire American workers and still make a profit.
Right wing politicians depend on an electorate that believes these things to be true. People who are well informed - like immigrants - realize that these ideas are not supported by empirical evidence. As a group, immigrants cannot be manipulated by fear into following the right wing agenda. Therefore, from the viewpoint of right wing power bases, immigrants must be marginalized and treated like a malignancy on our society and our way of life.
This also may explain why the Right mistrusts intellectuals and routinely cuts funding to universities.
Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South
Copyright © 2015 Daniel R. South
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