Reagan and Bush Debate Immigration, Border Fences, and Undocumented Children in 1980

I have a suspicion that it’s no different than any other highly efficient system. You’ll notice that every time there’s a natural crisis you’ll hear how facility X is the only place in the world where Y is done and now everything Y is going to go up in price[0]. There’s lots of reasons everyone downstream of X doesn’t have backup plans but one that certainly applies to the immediate consumers of Y is that over time market forces shave off any insurance against Y prices. This phenomenon is well-understood and so most countries intentionally develop backup facilities to X in what they believe are crucial spaces. It’s why the US pays for both ULA and SpaceX (instead of just whichever works better) and pays more for locally grown food and so on. But someone has to be watching and convince the rest of us that this kind of thing is worth doing and they need to keep doing it for a long time. What I think happened is The Sort[1] happened. We got better at giving people with the requisite skills their rewards. Previously, you might end up with a smart steely-eyed guy as Flight EECOM at NASA but today that guy has a shot at 100x the wealth on Wall Street or in tech. If you look at the debate between George H W Bush and Ronald Reagan[2] you’ll see a sort of thing that isn’t so common today: they are asked whether the US should be paying for the education of children of people crossing the border with Mexico and where today the highly-optimized politician will respond that he will do wha

Here’s some American context: a ~3 minute video. Bush and Reagan, during the primaries, trying to win over Republicans, answering a question about immigration. ▶ this video That’s what American conservatism used to look like. Modern Dems talk a lot like that.

> A position that was considered conservative in the 1980's is likely not conservative a generation and a half later. If you want a really jarring example of this, watch Bush (Sr.) and Reagan debate immigration during the 1980 primaries. ▶ this video They sound like Democrats today. (And that's in the primaries , where people tend to be more party-line!)

Check out how they used to talk about immigrants. Here’s Reagan and Bush debating the issue in the 80s. You’d mistake them for Dems today. ▶ this video

> Go over to YouTube and bring up some Reagan-Mondale or Clinton-Bush debates and compare their tone and temperament to what we see today. Reminded me of a fascinating video I recall; Bush and Reagan debate illegal immigration in 1980's primary. ▶ this video They sound more liberal than half of today's Democrats.

There are certainly many issues where a conservative of fifty years ago would be considered much further left than modern day conservatives, if not actually further to the left than modern day liberals. Contrast this clip of the George H.W. Bush of 1980 [1], to the rhetoric DeSantis uses in regards to immigration[2]: 1: ▶ this video 2: link

Here are Reagan and H.W. debating whether "children of illegal aliens should be allowed to use schools" ▶ this video This is from 43 years ago.

It's interesting how the roles reversed between the two parties over the decades. Here's a video of George Bush and Ronald Reagan tag-teaming pro-immigration policy speeches[1] that would have them tarred and feathered by the republican party of today. [1] ▶ this video

Perhaps even more tragically, Both Reagan and Bush were so pro-immigration compared to the modern republican party they'd probably be ridiculed out of the debate hall. ▶ this video

> How would the US possibly strengthen the Mexican Government though, barring massive investment? Not creating uncertainty by constantly threatening to pull out of NAFTA would be a good start. Helping to strengthen Mexico's economy was once a mainstream republican position seen to mutually benefit both countries. [1] [1] Excerpt on illegal immigrants from Regan/Bush 1980 primary debate: ▶ this video