Cantor’s Loss is America’s Gain

by: tim dunkin | published: 06 16, 2014

In what is an historical first in American politics, a sitting Majority Leader in the House of Representatives has been overturned by a primary challenger from within his own Party. It didn’t take long after the start of counting the votes in the VA-7 Republican primary for political watchers to realize that something big was in the process of happening. Eric Cantor, establishment GOP good boy and heir apparent to House Speaker John Boehner, was defeated quite handily by an upstart Tea Party-supported candidate named Dave Brat who only spent around $200,000. In fact, Brat didn’t just squeak out a win – he crushed Cantor with what is (at the time of this writing) an 11-point margin of victory. In short, one of the most powerful Republicans on Capitol Hill was unceremoniously thrown out of office by his own constituents.

This is a very good thing.

Why, you might ask? It’s because Cantor has been one of the most consistent voices calling for amnesty among Republicans in Washington, DC. He has been the one who, with John Boehner, has insisted on making preparations to betray the large majorities of Republicans, and of the American people, who do not want amnesty, who do not want a “pathway to citizenship” for illegal aliens, and who generally want less immigration, rather than more.

Let’s face it – despite the propaganda from the Left, the Democrats, the Chamber of Commerce, and from elitist Republicans, the American people are thoroughly uninterested in increasing the flow of undocument aliens into our nation (nor are they, for that matter, really in favor of many more documented ones, either). Americans do not want open borders. We do not want to give sanctuary to tens of thousands of Central American children being dumped on our doorstep by the Mexican government. We want stronger border protection. We want to tighten up our immigration system. Even Hispanics – the group who supposedly focuses on immigration issues with a laser-tight fixation – aren’t actually all that interested in it, placing pretty much every other issue above it in importance.

Yet – Cantor and his Republican allies in Washington decided to ignore their base, as well as the broader body of the American people at large, and push for immigration “reform” by mouthing empty promises about “border security” while offering de facto amnesty to millions of lawbreaking aliens already here. Despite months of warnings that we don’t want this, they still insisted on trying to shove it down our throats. Why is this? It is because of the tremendous disconnect that exists between the so-called “elites” in Washington (which includes many Republicans) and the American people back home in flyover country.

See, the elites in Washington don’t care in the least about the effect that illegal immigration has on the rest of us. They don’t care that it devalues our wage scale, drives up unemployment among American citizens, and has helped to destroy what remained of the African-American community’s employment base. They don’t care about the strain that chain migration and massive border-hopping place on our social services – hospital emergency rooms, welfare programs, and everything else that are funded by local tax bases. They don’t care about the elevated crime rates that accompany the influx of large numbers of individuals who refuse to integrate into the larger society as a whole, and who already were entirely comfortable with breaking our laws to get here in the first place. Mass immigration is destroying America’s working class and America’s middle class.

No – the Washington elites only see what they believe they can benefit by illegal immigration. While we see lost jobs, they see cheap nannies and migrant workers and meat packers who will work in their factories for pennies on the dollar compared to what American labor would demand. They see millions of potential bloc voters who will displace all those American voters who don’t vote on the basis of racial solidarity and how many goodies they can get from the government. By hook or by crook, the elite has determined to get its way, even if they have to completely alienate the bulk of middle America in the process.

This is why Cantor’s defeat is such an important thing. It isn’t just the possible gain of one House seat for Tea Partiers (assuming Brat defeats his Democratic opponent in November – something the GOP establishment is already working to see doesn’t happen). It’s the fact that Captain DREAM Act’s loss was a referendum on amnesty and open borders. The people of his district spoke the only language he apparently understands, and finally pulled the plug on him. Other Republican establishment types would be wise to pay attention to the lessons of the VA-7 Republican primary – though it is doubtful that they will. It would not be at all surprising if Karl Rove and the rest of his gang of K-street lobbyists and Party hacks figured that Cantor’s loss was merely due to going too easy on those Tea Party “wacko birds,” and that nastier and nastier campaigns against them in the future are what is needed.

So far, the prognostications at this point are that immigration “reform” are all but dead in the House this year. Unfortunately, I think that this remains to be seen. Logic would suggest that other Republicans would clue in to the fact that amnesty and immigration “reform” are as popular with the American people as a dead skunk in the middle of the road, and turn away from supporting it. However, there’s nothing stopping John Boehner from deciding to just blow a big raspberry at the majority of his own Party’s membership and pass a bill using Democrats and those 20-30 crossover Republicans who can always be counted on to sell the American people out every time. Nevermind the fact that he would be destroying his own Party, both electorally and demographically (pro tip for Speaker John – Hispanics consistently show little interest in voting Republican, no matter how much you rumble for amnesty, there’s no reason to think that millions more Hispanic voters are going to do anything other than cast millions of ballots for Democrats in states like Texas, Arizona, Florida, and elsewhere).

Nevertheless, this unprecedented display of voter angst by the electorate in VA-7 is encouraging. Obviously, the Tea Party is not dead. This stunning upset could work to provide momentum to other Tea Partiers fighting in primaries that remain to be decided, not least of which would be Chris McDaniel in Mississippi’s Senate runoff election in two weeks, where he hopes to overthrow RINO squish Thad Cochran. The American people can make their voices be heard – if they will get together to do it. Dave Brat overturned the second-most powerful Republican in DC for the cheap, cheap price of $200,000 because he was willing to stand on the message about immigration policy that resonated with the people of this country, and because he had the support of principled people who weren’t afraid to face off against all the forces of nastiness, deceit, and lopsided funding that the GOP establishment brought against him. Eric Cantor’s loss is truly America’s gain because it shows us that principle, fortitude, courage, and conservative convictions can still be successful.

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