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18 December 2010 By Keith Johnson Something wicked this way comes. It came for the Tea Party, and now its coming for
Latinos. This is all part of an ongoing campaign—financed by
powerful money interests—to co-opt every grassroots
political movement in America. Michael Collins Piper has been writing extensiveley
on this subject for American Free Press. In a recent
article he expalins: "Here is what's happening: Recognizing growing
widespread disgust with both major parties, the elite
big money forces seem to be laying the groundwork to
usher in a new "centrist" party—a "controlled
opposition" under their domination—to block the rise
of any genuine populist third party challenging their
power." The war-profiteering plutocratic elites want to
be assured that—in the face of growing opposition from
Americans on both the "left" and the "right"—budgetbusting
internationalist policies promoting U.S. military
adventurism in the Middle East and across the globe—in
the name of what is now being touted as American
"national greatness"—will be preserved. In fact, the "national greatness" concept is
just a patriotic-sounding cover name for what many
call the New World Order." That New World Order that he's talking about is the
same New World Order that successfully infiltrated the
Tea Party, and routed their bi-partisan anger over the
entire Washington establishment into a right vs. left
campaign platform for the Republican Party. Now they are setting their sights on other
disgruntled Americans, using the Tea Party co-opt as a
model for future takeovers. We all know now how this
works. The Republicans send in their operatives who
pose as Washington outsiders. They gain the trust of
their target group by espousing rhetoric opposed to
government largess and fiscal mismanagement. While
leaning hard on the Democrats, these operatives will
also give light criticism to fellow Republicans for
cronyism, stagnation and being "out of touch" with the
concerns of the average American. They promise to
"take on the system" and restore the government to the
people, placing the focus on economic and social
issues, while being careful to steer away any debate
that would challenge the power of the
military-industrial-complex. That's the game. Now this same game is being played against Latinos,
with an emphasis being placed on immigration
reform. The Republican operative heading up this project is
former US House Speaker, Newt Gingrich. As a base of
operations, Gingrich recently launched a bi-lingual
news website called The Americano, that claims "to
offer a more balanced view on all the issues that
concern American Hispanics today, while celebrating
the richness of Hispanic Heritage." That sounds nice. But, if you browse the site, you
find that the only thing they are "celebrating"
is the Republican agenda. "The richness of the
Hispanic Heritage" is nothing more than ambiance,
used like music or props in a feature film. In truth,
The Americano stays about as true to "Hispanic
Heritage" as Taco Bell. Gingrich's BIO is prominently featured on the
site. In typical ‘centrist' fashion, he is cast as a
Washington outsider: "After he was elected Speaker, he disrupted the
status quo by moving power out of Washington and back
to the American people." Yeah, we saw how that turned out. The only thing
that Newt's "Contract with America"
accomplished was to secure a decisive victory for the
Republicans in the 1994 elections. On December 2nd, The Americano sponsored a two-day
conference in Washington D.C. featuring a number of
sell-outs from the Hispanic community. Gingrich, who
once referred to Spanish as "the language of living in
the ghetto." headlined the event, and pitched
his centrist version of comprehensive immigration
reform. "We are not going to deport 11 million people,"
Gingrich said. "There has to be some zone between
deportation and amnesty." That "zone," accrording to Ginrich,
seperates those immigrants who came here as children
versus those who crossed the border as adults. Part of Gingrich's proposal would include
establishing an ID card that would track a worker's
legal status. "Let's find someone who actually knows what
they're doing," he said. "It should be
possible for any employer, anyone in the United
States, as fast as you swipe your ATM card to get
cash, to swipe a card to know whether or not they're
able to hire you." This is quite an about face for Gingrich.
Following the attacks on 9/11, Gingrich came out
firmly against the establishment of a National ID
card. During congressional hearings debating the
issue, Gingrich said that he, "would not institute
a national ID card because you do get into civil
liberties issues." Apparently things have
changed. Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida—whom the
Guardian recently described as a "party centrist" and
"GOP emissary to America's Latino
communities."—intends to follow up the Gingrich event
with the Hispanic Leadership Network Inaugural
Conference that will be held in Coral Gables, Florida
on January 13th. Jeb will host the event through the
American Action Forum (AAF), a shadow GOP front group
created by Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie. This
organization is one of four groups, serving as a
collective think tank and propaganda machine, to
rebuild the Republican brand. Jeb serves as a board
member of AAF, along with former DHS Chief, Tom
Ridge. Doug Holtz-Eakin, the former economic advisor
to John McCain's presidential campaign, is the
apparent front man. On the AAF website, CEO Norm Coleman made this
announcement: Notice all of the ‘centrist' jargon like
"center-right policies," "center-right voters" and
"grassroots action." Tea, anyone? There is nothing grassroots about AAF. It's the
same group of establishment Republicans who were the
architects behind the George W. Bush presidency. Yep, Newt Gingrich and Jeb Bush are working hard to
get that Latino vote. But that shouldn't surprise
anyone. Hispanics comprise the fastest growing
demographic in the nation. By 2050, Latinos are
projected to make up 25 percent of the U.S.
population. But there is something far more insidious behind
the GOP's latest outreach to the Latino community.
It's not just the votes that they want. The GOP
sincerely wants comprehensive immigration reform. In
fact, they want to legalize as many immigrants as
possible. Why? Because there are new wars looming on
the horizon, and more immigrants mean more soldiers.
Right now, military personnel are already spread too
thin with conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Iraq. New wars will require hundreds of thousands of
fresh recruits. Upon passage of the DREAM ACT, Newt Gingrich
praised certain "useful" aspects of the bill,
particularly that which would allow the children of
immigrants, who were brought here by their parents, to
become American citizens if they join the military or
go to college for two years. "There is a rich precedent supporting the
service of non-citizens in the U.S. military. Since
the Revolutionary War, non-citizens have enlisted in
the armed forces for service during periods of
national emergency. Today, about 35,000 non-citizens
serve, and about 8,000 permanent resident aliens
enlist every year. The DREAM Act represents an
opportunity to expand this pool, to the advantage of
military recruitment and readiness." I hope Latinos remember who Newt Gingrich and Jeb
Bush are. They are warmongers, first and foremost. Last summer, Newt Gingrich gave a speech to the
American Enterprise Institute and said that the U.S.
did not take George W. Bush's 2002 "Axis of Evil"
speech seriously. He said that we should have
followed up the invasion of Iraq with military strikes
on Iran and North Korea. And Jeb Bush is an original signatory to the
Project for the new American Century (PNAC), which
sets out a plan to establish a global American empire
by way of military preeminence. So don't think for one minute that these guys want
immigration reform for any other reason than to enlist
the children of these immigrants into the armed
services. Expect this campaign against Latinos to accelerate,
and reach new levels, as the days progress. The
Republicans are energized, and encouraged, by the
recent election of Cuban-American—and I might add: Tea
Party favorite—Mark Rubio. In fact, many are
predicting a Gingrich/Rubio ticket for 2012. Some
even say that they are a lock. One who seems to favor Rubio for the VP slot is
Bush strategist, Mark McKinnon. He recently wrote
this in an article for the Daily Beast: "Think about it. If anyone other than the
former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gets the Republican nod
for the top spot, it's a no-brainer to pick
Senator-elect Mark Rubio of Florida Senator as the VP
on the ticket. Look at all the boxes he would check: • A Tea Party favorite Mark Rubio might be good for the Republicans, but
is he good for Latinos? One might question where his
loyalties lie. Immediately after he won the senate
race, Rubio took off for a lavish trip to the state of
Israel. When asked the nature of his trip, Rubio
(through a spokesman) said that it was "personal
and private." According to Tampa Bay Online,
"He is also working with pro-Israel supporters to make
an official trip back to Israel early next year after
he is sworn into office." I don't think I need to remind you of the power
that the Israeli lobby has on our foreign policy.
When it comes to war—they're the "shot callers." And if you want to look a little further into the
future of this Latino co-opt by the GOP, you might
want to follow the career of Jeb's young son, George
Prescott Bush (How's THAT for a name). Yeah, folks,
just when you thought we'd seen the last of the George
Bush nightmare. Looks like we might have a trilogy. George Prescott Bush is Hispanic. That's right,
his Mother is of Mexican descent. Right now he's only
34, but he's already active in politics, and—according
to Source Watch—"sits on the Republican National
Committee's Hispanic advisory panel and is active in
urban-renewal efforts in Texas." He's been given the nickname "47," as in the 47th
presidency, which would place him up for election some
twelve years or more into the future. What a
frightening thought. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Right now,
Latinos have an opportunity to nip this thing in the
bud before it has a chance to lock its icy grip around
their throats. Just remember--When it comes to immigration reform,
Latinos and the GOP want the same thing—but not for
the same reasons. For Latinos, the path to
citizenship may very well be a ticket to a better life
in America. But if the GOP has their way, that
citizenship may very well be a ticket out of
America—and off to some foreign hell hole—where
Latinos and their children just might end up dead. |