Pat Buchanan just snatched the security blanket from conservatives and stomped on it. Contemplating the prospect of an electoral loss, some conservatives are consoling themselves by imagining that the political pendulum will soon start swinging back their way.
Buchanan doesn't think so, and his very first words on the matter this morning explain why: "demography is destiny." Buchanan offered his analysis during the opening segment of today's Morning Joe.
View video here.
PAT BUCHANAN: I think demography is destiny, Joe. And the country is becoming more Hispanic, more African-American, more minority, immigrants. These folks come in, 90% poor, not well-educated: they look to government. I mean, the idea of small government is not one that has--it has an appeal to a diminishing number of Americans. The Reagan Democrats are dying out.
Joe Scarborough offered a more sanguine perspective.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Pat, the thing is, we can debate immigration throughout the next 28 hours that we're on the air. I can only say that you can say the same thing of Irish-Americans when they came, Italian-Americans when they came here. The challenge for this country is to bring in new immigrants and get them invested in the American Dream so they understand: working hard, paying less taxes, growing your business, hiring friends --
BUCHANAN: All those immigrants: our parents, your parents, they came in, and they came right through the Democratic party, and they stayed there for about 30 years. Until, sort of the gates were closed for awhile. Then they moved into the middle class, and this is going to take a long, long time.
SCARBOROUGH: It may take awhile, but at the same time, you talk about demographics being destiny. The fact is, we've got baby boomers moving towards retirement, starting to retire now. Young people that I talk to at colleges --
MIKE BARNICLE: Increasingly conservative.
SCARBOROUGH: That we talked to at Columbia, are increasingly
conservative. Cause you know what they understand? All of these
government promises about Social Security, Medicare? All a mirage.
They're not going to get any. You start talking to them about the
fact that if we don't stop the growth of government, if we don't
start putting the individual on top of the centralized state, you: Colin Barnicle, you: Joey Scarborough, will be paying 75% of your check to the United States government. And you know what? They immediately become libertarians.
Your thoughts? Is Buchanan simply being xenophobic, or is there reason to believe that new generations of immigrants won't embrace the American Dream as previous ones did? Do people see evidence supporting Scarborough's view that younger people are trending conservative as they see the bill for their parents' retirement coming due at their expense?
