Stephanie Ong
Sep 9, 2018 · 2 min read

Actually, old school conservatives were never about, “keep them all out/kick them out”. This is only a newly evolved stance on the issue held by a fraction of the population.

Conservatives were ALL ABOUT legal immigration to be in line with their forefathers.

The problem is The 1882 Immigration Act basically let ANYONE in who could pay the head tax. That was all it took to be a legal immigrant. There was no green card costs or limitations. Nowadays, there are caps on numbers and HUGE costs that are not compatible with the old thinking. The ideas of immigration and legal status have evolved.

If fact, many AMERICANS couldn’t afford the costs of the citizenship route.

The sad part is really in the attitudes towards immigration, most people don’t know that most of those immigrants they rant about ARE here legally. 45% know most are legal. 35% think most are illegal and the rest think 50/50 or don’t know.

The older GOP crowd are more likely to be the keep them all out crowd, the newer generation are reverting back to the “ get illegals on the path to citizenship”. In fact only 27% of Americans think amnesty or pushing a get legal path for those who entered illegally is a bad idea and see it as a reward for bad/illegal behavior, the share declined 9 percent in the past 2 years.

So the most vocal are NOT the will of the entire party or constituent voter base. Just because a part of the party thinks and says certain things doesn’t mean the entire party is that way.

So McCain WAS following the Will of the American People; and even most of his Republicans constituents.

After all, just because someone didn’t vote for you doesn’t mean you don’t still represent them.

    Stephanie Ong

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