Houston, We Have a Problem

Michelle Malkin posts this photo, from the huge Hispanic rally in LA.

This strikes me as very, very bad.  It will become a poster for the anti-immigration movement, powerful enough perhaps to overcome the resistance of business interests in the Republican Party.  We might see really draconian legislation, which will have two effects.  First, it will drive Hispanic voters to the Democratic party in numbers that rival the current loyalty of Blacks.  Second, it will push almost every other significant block of voters toward the Republicans.  If Black voters have to choose between a Mexican and a U.S. flag, I wouldn't count on their loyalty to the Democrats holding.  Certainly white voters, who already vote reliably Republican, will find it even harder to support a party when one of its major voting blocks wants to reclaim Southern California for Mexico.  I don't see how this doesn't lead to an "emerging Republican majority" that will make the old one look shriveled by comparison.  But what would be good for the Republicans would be very bad for the country.  The last thing we need is a long secessionist party clinging to our southern border. 

Dick Morris, on Fox, pointed out that what we do need is a two-fold policy: first, really effective border enforcement; and second, a path to citizenship for Mexicans already in the country.  Once the flow of illegal immigration is brought under control, and the supply of persons fresh out of Mexico is no longer replenished daily, Mexican-Americans in the Southwest will follow the path of every other immigrant group.  But both parts of the policy have to be enacted, and visions like the one above won't make the second one easy.