01/21/2014
There’s yet another PC witch-hunt underway, this time in Michigan, aimed at Dave Agema, one of the state’s Republican National Committee members, who among other sins has dared be unenthusiastic about Muslim immigration.
And, yet again, the GOP Establishment is falling over itself to join in: Amway plutocratess Betsy DeVos [Email her] has demanded that Agema resign or be forced out. [Betsy DeVos says GOP should dump Agema; implies financial 'consequences' for intolerance, by Garret Ellison, MLive.com, January 19, 2014].
DeVos' political judgment can be gauged by the fact that her last appearance on VDARE.com was when, as chairthing of the Michigan GOP, she opposed Ward Connerly’s drive to get an anti-Affirmative Action initiative on the state ballot. Reportedly, she feared it might harm (!) her husband’s campaign for governor. In 2006, a bad year for the GOP thanks to the Bush blight, Connerly’s initiative carried overwhelmingly; needless to say, Mr. DeVos lost.
Agema was also attacked, albeit indirectly, by GOP Governor Rick Snyder in his January 16 State of the State speech:
… Snyder leveled a half-veiled criticism of anti-gay and anti-Muslim posts that Michigan Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema made on Facebook in the last week. He said people should "work to bring Michiganders together, not divide" them.
Significantly, Snyder’s speech also highlighted his plan to attract "immigrants" to Michigan, a policy so ludicrous it can only have come from believing the Wall Street Journal editorial page:
Snyder also will soon issue an executive order creating the Office for New Americans, joining two other states that have put immigration services under one roof.
His administration has applied to make Michigan the second state government along with Vermont to run a regional center for the EB-5 visa program, with the goal of attracting talented immigrant entrepreneurs. The EB-5 program designates businesses to recruit foreign investors for development projects — the investors get permanent U.S. residency for themselves and their families.
"If someone has the opportunity to come to our country legally, let’s hold our arms open and say, 'Come to Michigan, this is the place to be,'" Snyder said.
This enabled Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, to make the obvious riposte:
"I think most people in Michigan are scratching their heads a little bit saying, 'Why do we need to import degree holders?' What about … giving our kids the degrees so they can do the jobs he’s claiming to try to lure to Michigan?"
Michigan GOP Governor Unveils Plan To Attract Immigrants To The State, Fox News Latino, January 17, 2014.
To quote our James Kirkpatrick:
[T]he ultimate battle for the soul of the GOP lies ahead. And the battle lines are becoming increasingly clear. One future is as a nationalist, populist, pro-worker Republican Party. On the other is a party of Politically Correct corporate lobbyists, hoping to squeeze out a close victory (or at least more consultant fees) for a few more election cycles.
Snyder doesn’t want to "divide" Michiganders. He just wants to immiserate them.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.