Almost everyone knows James Carville’s famous dictum that propelled Bill Clinton into the White House — “It’s the economy, stupid!” And there’s no denying that his pronouncement continues to make great sense, given the condition of our society.
But I have another suggestion that may be even more important for the Republicans to rally around in the next two elections — “It’s the border security, stupid.” After all, even a booming economy doesn’t mean much if we all go boom.
And we very well could. From the rise of ISIS to the idiotic and useless nuclear non-negotiation with Iran, we’re closer to it than we ever were. As James O’Keefe has shown us with his videos, our borders are so permeable they make a pair of thirty year old sweat socks half-filled with holes seem like the Iron Dome. Just about anybody can get in any time he or she wants from Mexico or Canada — and O’Keefe hasn’t even gotten to those more than six million shipping containers entering our ports annually, nor has he dealt with the hundreds or thousands of passport-holding American and British nationals now volunteering for the Islamic State and chomping at the bit to come home and wreak havoc.
So I suggest the Republican Party coalesce around the issue of border security, which is obviously tied intimately into foreign policy, in a big way. Make it a cause célèbre because, in truth, we don’t have a choice, unless it’s self-immolation.
This has the further advantage of being something that is simple and clear and that a large percentage of the public will support. Americans are on edge — and for good reason. If I were a Democrat, I would absolutely dread a terror attack at this time because it would literally sink my party, Obama et al having been so feckless, even deliberately so in some quarters, in dealing with the threat.
Also — and this is important — ALL Republicans should be able to agree on this issue, except perhaps the most orthodox “open border” libertarians whose extreme ideological rigidity trumps common sense. (It usually does.) All the usual disagreements between the various wings of the party would pale by comparison — during an EMP attack the definition of marriage will seem rather trivial to say the least — and they should be able to get together on border security with little rancor.
Republicans have a strong hand here and they should play it. Stand tall to protect our country and our civilization. Don’t back down. Obama’s recent tabling of amnesty is just one indication that the other side is running scared on this issue.
This necessitates much better public relations outreach than Republicans usually muster. It means explaining to the public the situation we are in and bringing them over to our side, all of the public including Latinos who have been lobbying so hard for amnesty. They must be made to understand that these are not normal times. This is not business as usual. An extraordinarily large part of the world is at war with Western civilization and they, Hispanics, are part of Western civ. They have to be shown this is their war too and they have to be cooperative in it, be patient. This goes for all minorities.
When approached in that manner, people are very often responsive. When they are included, when they are shown respect, they are more willing to participate. We have to work hard to accomplish that.
To say these are serious times is an understatement. Even Obama is being forced to deal with it. When he speaks on Wednesday, he will undoubtedly sound more hawkish but refer mainly to bands of “extremists” who have hijacked Islam. This is as untrue as almost everything else he says. The problem is far larger, gigantic, in fact. That small group of “extremists” consists of the entire nation of Iran, much of Lebanon under Hezbollah, Hamas, Erdogan’s Turkey, the Muslim Brotherhood, Boko Haram, the murderous Assad regime, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Libya and on and on. Those “extremists” (of various stripes obviously) amount to hundreds of millions, possibly billions, of people, a number that dwarfs the Nazis and exceeds even the former Soviet Union (now being reconstituted, alas). They are not a small exception. There can be no true border security as long as the lie of this being some kind of minor aberration persists, as long as our government continues to perpetuate it.
This border security means far more than just the lines between Mexico, Canada and the U.S. It means the line between the future of the human race and its past. The past is at war with us. It has declared war on the future, our future and our children’s. And ironically, it has fallen to the conservatives, to the supposed fuddy-duddies of the Republican Party, to battle for that future. Liberals long ago abdicated it in a haze of reactionary multiculturalism. So we are the ones who must secure the border in all its guises. Now is the time. And we might as well use it in winning elections.
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