John B. Judis: Why Hysteria Has Won Out in Arizona
[John B. Judis is a senior editor of The New Republic and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.]
Severe recessions can make people crazy and mean. During the Great Depression, immigration to the United States from Mexico virtually ceased, but states began arresting and deporting Mexicans, many of whom were in the country legally. The Mexican population of the United States fell by 41 percent during the 1930s. And the same kind of thing is happening again.
...But Republicans in Arizona are acting as if illegal immigrants are pouring across the border and must be stopped by any means necessary. “The back door to the United States for all intents and purposes remains wide open,” Republican Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth declared at a North Tucson town hall meeting last month....
The state's incumbent Senator John McCain might also have been expected to oppose the bill. After all, he had co-sponsored with the late Senator Edward Kennedy an immigration bill that would have eased the way for illegal immigrants to stay in the United States and eventually become citizens. But faced with a primary challenge from Hayworth, and a primary electorate that will be dominated by conservatives, McCain has been steadily disavowing prior stands on taxes, the bank bailout, gays in the military, campaign finance reform, and climate change. On the eve of the vote in the legislature, McCain came out in favor of the immigration bill. “I think the people of Arizona understandably are frustrated and angry,” he declared.
Of course, there will be legal challenges, and there will likely be boycotts of Arizona’s hotels and conventions. That happened after the state refused to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, and led eventually to Arizona giving in. There will also be political repercussions. While Republicans may pick up a few more percent of the angry white vote in November 2010, they can kiss the Hispanic vote goodbye—and not just in Arizona. That may not have meant much in 1935, but in the years to come, it could seal the Republicans’ fate as a minority party. That’s at least one price they’ll pay for being mean and crazy.
Read entire article at The New Republic
Severe recessions can make people crazy and mean. During the Great Depression, immigration to the United States from Mexico virtually ceased, but states began arresting and deporting Mexicans, many of whom were in the country legally. The Mexican population of the United States fell by 41 percent during the 1930s. And the same kind of thing is happening again.
...But Republicans in Arizona are acting as if illegal immigrants are pouring across the border and must be stopped by any means necessary. “The back door to the United States for all intents and purposes remains wide open,” Republican Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth declared at a North Tucson town hall meeting last month....
The state's incumbent Senator John McCain might also have been expected to oppose the bill. After all, he had co-sponsored with the late Senator Edward Kennedy an immigration bill that would have eased the way for illegal immigrants to stay in the United States and eventually become citizens. But faced with a primary challenge from Hayworth, and a primary electorate that will be dominated by conservatives, McCain has been steadily disavowing prior stands on taxes, the bank bailout, gays in the military, campaign finance reform, and climate change. On the eve of the vote in the legislature, McCain came out in favor of the immigration bill. “I think the people of Arizona understandably are frustrated and angry,” he declared.
Of course, there will be legal challenges, and there will likely be boycotts of Arizona’s hotels and conventions. That happened after the state refused to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, and led eventually to Arizona giving in. There will also be political repercussions. While Republicans may pick up a few more percent of the angry white vote in November 2010, they can kiss the Hispanic vote goodbye—and not just in Arizona. That may not have meant much in 1935, but in the years to come, it could seal the Republicans’ fate as a minority party. That’s at least one price they’ll pay for being mean and crazy.