“The word Racist did not appear in the American dictionary until the mid seventies.”

Mark, where did you dig up this HORSESHIT???  Rush Limbaugh, Fox/Pravda, or Nazi-Ann Coulter?

I guess you didn’t read the news in the early 60’s, or the commentators back then.  Racist was a VERY common term, like for the murderers of the 3 civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi.

I took a course in Spring of 1974 on Nazi Germany and the term used then to describe Hitler’s particularly virulent views of non-Germanic peoples was EXPLICITLY defined as “Biological Racism” because it was based on warped interpretations of Social Darwinism that divided humantity into “races” that were in conflict.

Stop distributing propaganda and lies!

The word Racist did not appear in the American dictionary until the mid seventies. Why are so many so quick to smear people who want to preserve American culture? My country was not intended to be a free-for-all.
When our forefathers described a melting pot, it was for Europeans. Our country cannot retain it’s greatness as a tower of Babel.
We should, as a majority, have the right to decide when enough is enough.
Pick on the Japanese (or any of those other countries who don’t give citizenship to foreign races) for a while if you must. If not, you’re free to move to some third world crap hole a see how they like you there.

Can I tell you all a secret?

I’m beginning to believe this information may still be considered “Top Secret” because from what I understand the California State Senate has debated, and argued, for years whether they should officially acknowledge this ‘secret’- which happens to be a very important part of our history, happened in nearly every State in the US, led to many historical events, has a lot to do with our current Immigration debate and I would guess the impact was so great that it had lasting results- changing America forever.

Although it’s still being debated whether to add this ‘secret’ to our High School history books, the CA State Senate finally passed legislation (thanks to a SPECIAL Senator who was determined)effective this year, in which California “Acknowledges” and OFFICIALLY “Appologizes” for its part in THE… hang on…. take a deep breath….

“ILLEGAL” & FORCED DEPORTATION OF approx. 400,000 (yes, FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND) people of Mexican DECENT- Majority of whom were US CITIZENS!!!

Surprisingly, with so many against acknowledging this horrific event (especially those behind the “anti-immigration” posse), I have yet to read anyone dispute the fact that most were Citizens. Of those NOT US citizens, many were LEGAL Residences.

Many, DID NOT EVEN SPEAK SPANISH, HAD NEVER BEEN TO MEXICO, WERE SENT “HOME” to their “HOME TOWNS”. I saw a DVD interview of a few survivors (most have passed away) in which they spoke about the traumatic experience- being ‘unwanted’ by their Country only to be sent to another Country were they also felt hated- they were viewed in Mexico as Mestizos OR “Mexican-Americans” and not accepted, spoke no Spanish, etc.

One gentleman even had a picture of thier NEW “Home” in Mexico….A TREE! They, including small children, slept UNDER A TREE, for a FEW MONTHS, UNTIL THEIR FATHER could BUILD THEM A HOME! This poor guy goes on to describe the trauma and ongoing devestation they endured.

Then, already pretty choked up, he begins to cry as he tells how despite all this- When war broke out, HE CAME BACK TO THE US TO FIGHT FOR HIS COUNTRY!

Oh, THERE IS SO MUCH MORE…. I have copies of Letters from public officials, “Reports” from those who monitored the deportations,
“Requests”/“inquiries”/“Statements” from those deported, etc. Too much to write about- I have no more energy….this stuff bothers me so much, it literally drains me (Which is why this is written so badly- I’m writing fast so I’ll finish and post it).

I will just add this…One letter from a Los Angeles official was in regarding the belongings & property left behind by those 400,000 people(They were sent to Mexico by train & forced to leave not only their COUNTRY, Family & Friends, but also their possessions- from clothes, art to HOUSES, cars).

In the letter, the official basically says they SOLD the property/possesions left behind AND COULD NOT BE SUED because THE MONEY WAS THEN USED to ***Reimbursed/Cover expenses*** of DEPORTING THEM! SO essentially, they paid for their own ILLEGAL Deportation.

As a black American, I find that, surprisingly, I have to agree with Buchanan regarding his comment. Folks seem to forget that although there were severe injustices during the 50’s and 60’s, particularly in race matters, this was the generation that finally did something to ameliorate inequality. The salient difference between then and now is that there was an “American culture” that enabled us to act for the common good. That culture no longet exists, eradicated first by the Cubans and , subsequently, by massive Latino and Asian immigration that have replaced it with something so fractious and alien that it resembles the very places the newcomers fled. For my part, I no longer have a country. And I miss it.

I just had a vivid reminder of just how utterly wrong Buchanan is to idealize pre-1960s America: while driving, I happened to catch an episode of the 50s radio show, “Father Knows Best”.

The plot matter was bad enough.

At an upcoming ladies’ club debate, Father’s good little wife plans to give a speech opposing professional careers for women as injurious to a woman’s sole duty to be a housewife.

However, for the time being, she’s cutely letting Father think that her speech is going to be in FAVOR of careers for women, since he got all upset and bossy the minute he heard she was going to give a speech on such a subject at all.

Unbelievably, the writing out and acting of this asinine story line was even worse than it sounds in summary.

I thought about Buchanan’s nostalgia and bigotry as I listened to this deeply, deeply smug and stupid and just plain witless and boring “comedy” that was wildly popular in the America that Buchanan misses so much.

I do not like Pat Buchanan.  I don’t like anyone whose rhetoric always conveys a lack of compassion and a selfish attitude.  The fact that he is ostensibly speaking for Christians makes it worse.  Christians are getting a bad rap because of him and others like him.

I have a grudging admiration for Buchanan, too, although we’re normally at opposite ends of the political spectrum. His comments on our Iraq debacle are spot on, but his America-First isolationism can’t work in today’s world. (On the other hand, his anti-interventionist stance pretty much reflects my own position on the matter.)

Still, Pat’s clearly suffering from a convenient bout of amnesia with regard to the roots of his own peeps.

From an online history of the Irish immigration to our shores in the 1850’s:

“Even as the boat was docking, these immigrants to America learned that life in America was going to be a battle for survival. Hundreds of runners, usually large greedy men, swarmed aboard the ship grabbing immigrants and their bags trying to force them to their favorite tenement house and then exact an outrageous fee for their services. As the poor immigrant had no means of moving on, they settled in the port of arrival. Almshouses were filled with these Irish immigrants. They begged on every street.”

“One honest immigrant wrote home at the height of the potato famine exodus, ‘My master is a great tyrant, he treats me as badly as if I was a common Irishman.’ The writer further added, ‘Our position in America is one of shame and poverty.’ No group was considered lower than an Irishman in America during the 1850s.”

“. . . .All major cities had their ‘Irish Town’ or ‘Shanty Town’ where the Irish clung together. Our immigrant ancestors were not wanted in America. Ads for employment often were followed by ‘NO IRISH NEED APPLY.’ They were forced to live in cellars and shanties, partly because of poverty but also because they were considered bad for the neighborhood…they were unfamiliar with plumbing and running water. These living conditions bred sickness and early death. It was estimated that 80% of all infants born to Irish immigrants in New York City died. Their brogue and dress provoked ridicule; their poverty and illiteracy provoked scorn.”

“The Chicago Post wrote, ‘The Irish fill our prisons, our poor houses…Scratch a convict or a pauper, and the chances are that you tickle the skin of an Irish Catholic. Putting them on a boat and sending them home would end crime in this country.’”

In short, a hundred years ago, we’d have been mocking Pat for mangling English, increasing the crime rate, causing our cities to deteriorate,  and basically just screaming, “Go home, you bloody Mick!”

To paraphrase Santayana, Those who cannot remember their own history may force others to repeat it.

Of course Buchanan is a ridiculous and dangerous racist.

But like a stopped clock, he’s occasionally right.

For example, he opposed the war in Iraq, which was clearly undertaken in Israel’s interests and against our own.

Well, guess what? The Iraq war WAS wrong, and it WAS against our interests, and its chief architects DID promote it primarily for Israel’s benefit.

And those same people are trying to drag us into suicidal wars against Iran and Syria— this time even more balatantly for Israel’s interests and against our own.

Israel is very lucky to have a racist clown like Buchanan as an enemy — it makes it so easy to smear all critics of Israel as being just like him.

Buchanan undercuts whatever thoughtful ideas he has on immigration with his opening statements.

He sounds like a white Mississippi princess in 1868, pining for the old days.

There may have been equal numbers of blacks and whites in his youth, they were in no way equal.

He can put all the frills, perfume, and icing on his original comments he wants, it doesn’t change their repugnant odor.

Sounding a little like the President of last week, Buchanan’s comment was half-assed and incoherent, but I truly doubt his commitment to any kind of diversity.  I have some awful memories of his past declarations; certainly no gay people, of whatever color, would be looking to him for acceptance.  Furthermore, allowing the voters to decide immigration levels would merely harden into law the bigotry and fear that prevails at the time.

At least Buchanan is admiting upfront that he is a racist.

Reply to Comment #21115 by Spinoza on 9/01 at 8:07 am

I kinda like Pat too. He is honest and consistent. I think calling him a fascist is a bit unkind. He is rather ethnophobic, but still, he is the kind of small government anti-imperialist mind-your-own-business Republican I can at least respect.

Buchanan underestimates the procilivity of Latinos to assimilate, but too many too fast y ya no hay por qué ni cómo hacerlo.  The US simply becomes something entirely different.  Ask the Native Americans about a previous episode.

What is better: immigration policy determined by vote or by arbitrage of a dual labor market?  Yes, there are Asians, Latin Americans, and others who make great US citizens, but most who come are poor and their children will compete for mendial jobs with future waves of poor.  Open borders favor the immigrant and the wealthy employer, but not the average wage earner.  Uncontrolled immigration also impedes and eventually eclipses the assimilation of immigrants into any common culture.  Immigration is not the only factor to drive down wages, but it is certainly one.  Just ask any native born roofer or meat packer.  Poor laborers are not a good way to fund retirement programs, either, because the poor also have dependent elders too.

Immigration should be restricted mainly to people with stragegic skills and talents.  Existing illegals should be left alone, but people who hire them should get zero tax benefit and be liable for abusive labor practices based on witnesses who need not fear deportation.  This will obliterate perhaps 75% of the appetite for underpaid serf labor.

Openly racist remarks followed by what sounds like an old man regretting the time of his youth.
Time never stands still and nothing ever comes back.

At first, I thought he meant he liked the 50/50 balance too, until later on in the interview. No doubt the country that he misses was just lovely - for HIM and others like him. It was miserable for those who weren’t.

I like Buchanan because he has been consistent all of his life and is not a hypocrite like many right wingers.  Buchanan comes out of what I call clerical fascism.  The Irish Catholic Fascism America First movement of the 1940’s associated with Father Coughlin and other Nativists.  William Buckley is of the same school but doesn’t own up like Buchanan does.  Though “America First” was anti War it was particularly anti war with Fascism which most of their supporters supported.

Though Buchanan has written some beautiful anti- Iraq War pieces he is still an enemy of the left and his anti-Internationalism is dangerous in the modern world.

I thought he was trying to make the point that, in a country that was 89-90% white, he liked living in a city that was more balanced at 50-50!

I don’t understand what’s racist about that.

I do have a problem with allowing the “people” to decide entirely who immigrates. A democracy, in my view, not only entitles each citizen to one vote, but should require the administration to ensure citizens are truthfully and fully informed about the consequences of their choices and the citizens to be fair-minded in making them.

From what I’ve seen of “the people” that’s a tall order. Many people throw their vote either the way they’re told to by peers, politics or religion, or in reaction to some real or perceived issue or threat. Most people do not have access to accurate, unbiased information upon which to make appropriate choices and/or don’t have the intelligence, time or will to do the work to learn. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to live in a country run by referendum voting because it likely will only be fair for those in the majority.

Which surfaces another problem. What do you do about a country where the “majority” is composed of a mosaic of minorities?

In order to hold my kind of democracy together the population needs a high level of education about the cultures, languages, philosophies, religions and even foods of the major groups on this planet… and real acceptance/agreement that EACH individual has exactly the same rights and responsibilities as every other towards the community (providing he/she isn’t a criminal). The last time I looked there isn’t much time spent on these humanities in American public schools.