Bruce Sherman wrote the following in response to my remarks about Reagan and the need for a bigger and better Republican Party. 

Steve,

Today's column should be required reading for every Republican. It truly embodies the essence of Reagan's "Big Tent."

As I have mentioned previously, both sets of my grandparents were immigrants, arriving in this country between 1914 and 1925. At that time, the Republican Party was isolationist and anti-immigrant. It was the party of Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh and, later, the John Birch Society.

The Democrats became, largely by default, the party of the immigrants. The following DECADES of Democrat election dominance were no mere coincidence. For most immigrants--and their descendants--to be a Republican (and thus join the party of the bigots and immigrant haters) was simply unthinkable.

My own family was hardly left-wing. As Jews from Russia, they had seen evil firsthand. They loved FDR because he was willing to fight the Nazis. They loved JKF because he was aggressively anti-Communist. As the Democrats moved to the left, my family rallied around the remaining Democrat hawks, such as Scoop Jackson.

My point is that once the Republican Party lost that generation of immigrants, the GOP could not win them back. In New York, it has been said that Jews live like Republicans, but vote like Puerto Ricans. Collective memories die hard.

As Republicans, we stand at another critical juncture. Will we again become the party of isolationism and xenophobia, or will we become the party of the immigrant by stressing those things critical to the immigrants' success in America: equality of opportunity, lower taxes, freedom from excessive regulation and government intrusion, and basic respect for human dignity?

Given the Left's cognitive dissonance regarding the very real threats we face today, it has never been more critical for Republicans to--once again-- erect Reagan's "Big Tent" and to be the guardians responsible for protecting and enhancing that "Shining city upon the hill."

As the Gipper concluded in his farewell address:

"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.

And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that; after 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home."

Bruce Sherman
Oakland, Oregon

Bruce, you said this very well.  Thanks for the compliments.

You and I are both familiar with the stories of ships packed with Jewish refugees sailing about, hoping – in vain – that someone, anyone would take them in.  They got turned away from everywhere, including the U.S.  So, they sailed back to Germany to certain death. 

It was one of the worst moments in our country’s history.  I guess it would have violated some “law” or other to let those poor people in.

I do realize that we as a country can’t take in everyone who wants to come here.  Otherwise, we’d have a population bigger than that of China and India combined.  But we certainly have to do more to help those in desperate need of assistance.  "Those to whom much is given, much is asked in return."

I liked Rudy Giuliani’s definition the other night of who really is an American:  basically, he said it could be someone who’s been here only one day but truly loves liberty and the values of this country, and such a person is true American.  Being an American is not some technical aspect of citizenship.  Rather, it's a state of mind and of heart.  It's about people who have a true "yearning to breathe free." 

John McCain talked about the large number of soldiers of Hispanic backgrounds that he encountered in Iraq.   When we hear the names of those who’ve died in Iraq and Afghanistan there seem to be a lot of people named Lopez and Sanchez and Guitterez.  Some of them, of course, are “illegals” who get their citizenship by serving in the Armed Forces.  For some of these people, the path to citizenship is going to lead to an early military funeral.   

Ronald Reagan was my kind of conservative.  He could talk tough (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!"), but he had a gentle hand and heart.  He genuinely loved people, and the American public picked that up.  In a tradition you know well, he was a mensch. 

Bruce, I’ve never read anything you’ve written – and I’ve read a lot – that didn’t teach me a great deal.  You're one of those Americans Giuliani talked about the other night. 


Note: The Following deals with ongoing exchanges between Sanity102, Wil Keepers, and me regarding the (now-dead?) immigration reform legislation.  Your comments are welcome.

There are some fascinating comments/exchanges going on at this site.  Wil Keepers has said that the proposed immigration legislation had some enforcement flaws, and Sanity102 has said he’s wrong.  The first note is from Sanity, the second from me.  Wil’s comments are to the right in the Comments section.  I will put up Wil’s comments on “Blog Central” tomorrow and give my reactions.  To let the cat out of the bag, I agree strongly with Sanity on this point.  I also agree that immigration reform is dead unless and until the Democrats win the White House in 2008, at which point a new bill will be written by the Democratic President.  Very few Republican Senators – and there may be significantly fewer of them in 2008 -- are ever going to want to touch this “electrified” issue.  The immigration situation will go from bad (currently) to much worse.  That is the great “victory” for the increasingly strange and dysfunctional conservative ‘base.” 

Wil, Let's be frank here...you DO know that the bill HAD those 2 things you claim the majority of people want...a way to track the illegals and a way to enforce the enforceable laws we have. But you and that "majority" no longer believe the GOP minority, remember?

So exactly what bill would satisfy you guys since you won't back it until you have proof and they can't give you proof until the bill is passed.

It's a no win, catch 22--and now the GOP senators who really did try to make the IIA [the anti-immigration absolutists] happy know it. They will not touch this issue again. -- Sanity102



Wil, Sanity102 severely challenges some of your basic points about the immigration legislation.  It strikes me that if we assume the government will not follow up on any proposed legislation, and then nothing -- as in NOTHING -- would ever go forward in DC.  It would be gridlock unto eternity.  It's a little like a spouse who assumes her husband is cheating on her, and nothing he can say or do will change her mind.  The treatment of Hispanics in this country is a very tricky matter.  It's not as if they're a handful of immigrants from the Maldives Islands.  There are 40 million legal people in the US of Hispanic background.  No elected official in his or her right mind can ignore that reality.  I won't even assert that they SHOULD ignore that.  "Politics is the art of the possible."  It doesn't take place in a hermetically sealed room.  On something like the fence: it may be necessary, but it also brings with it some unintended consequences because of the message it sends to hundreds of millions of people south of the border, most of whom don't want to emigrate to the U.S.  To ignore those unintended consequences is just plain stupid.  -- Steve