Adam Serwer has an apt turn of phrase when he describes the current agitation on the right as a “fear of ideological annihilation through demographic change.” Obviously there is a racial component to what we’re seeing, but there really is an ideological component, too.
A number of factors conspire to make the American government a hostile place for liberal or progressive ideas, including (on the far end) anything resembling European/Canadian-style socialism. There’s no point in talking to your congressperson about the merits of socialized medicine, for example. He or she can’t get an eighth of the votes they’d need to create such a system. If we cut the country in half, though, and created a Blue America (composed of the coasts and upper midwest) and a Red America (composed of the South, Plains, and Mountain states), we’d see something much different. The two countries would quickly drift apart, with Blue America embracing a more European economic system that is socially tolerant and secular in outlook. Red America would move to a more Wild West-style laissez faire economic system paired with severe government intrusion into personal morality and privacy, and severe immigration restrictions. What keeps our current system stable (yet paralyzed) is the rough parity between Blue and Red America, and the Senate makeup and procedural rules that give Red America outsized influence.
Yet, what cannot be done through legislation can be done through demographic change. It’s not only non-caucasian immigrants that pose a threat to Red America, it’s the culture of today’s youth which is tolerant of racial and sexual orientation differences, and is a bit more secular in outlook than their parents.
Non-whites should not be considered automatic Democrats. Muslims and Latinos come from religious traditions that align nicely with many of the socially conservative values that Republicans espouse. Indians and Koreans are famous for their entrepreneurial initiative, and share all the concerns that white small business owners have about governmental red-tape. But none of these groups can consider themselves welcome in Red America. Consider what co-founder of the Cordoba House, Daisy Khan, told Sally Quinn on the phone.
“It’s hard for us to imagine we are in the thick of a controversy like this. The Republicans are really going after us.”
Latinos know how Ms. Khan feels. Blacks have felt that way forever. And, since most Republicans can’t tell Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs apart, almost no one of color can avoid the sensation that Republicans are “going after” them.
This creates a self-fulfilling problem for the Republicans. Their racism is driving away some of the immigrants that might vote with them on economic issues, which accelerates the blueing of America, which makes some forms of socialism more likely to take root here in the United States.
To go over this once more for clarity, the Republicans fear that people of color don’t share their values on both religious and economic issues, so they are panicking at the browning of America. But many people of color actually do share many of their values on both cultural and economic matters, and they’re being to driven to vote against the Republicans anyway. The more non-whites are inclined to vote with the Democrats, the more non-white immigration can be seen as a kind of Democratic voter-drive. And the more that conservatives see immigration as a straight-up threat to their political prospects, the more they alienate new immigrants with their toxic rhetoric.
All of this might seem encouraging if you are interested in a more pluralistic, tolerant, secular society that takes care of its vulnerable people, but the problem is that the Republicans are ascendant at the moment and are about to get a bunch of xenophobic, intolerant, assholes (to put it kindly) elected to federal office. History tells us that this is not something to take lightly just because demographics will correct the people’s error in fairly short order. History tells us to fight this rising tide of hatred and intolerance the same way our fathers and grandfathers fought it on Omaha Beach and Guadacanal.
Yet, it’s not all about racism. It’s also an awareness that the current status quo cannot hold in the face of demographic change. The Republicans could preserve more of the status quo if they would stop assuming everyone of color is their ideological enemy instead of working to make sure that they are all their political enemies.
