Conservatives against capitalism?

[rogerashton]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/30/national/30idaho.html?

His latest salvo, a plan to sue employers who hire illegal immigrants, has angered the solidly Republican business community and many of the senior political leaders in this heavily Republican state.

The struggle here is contained to Canyon County, west of Boise with a population of 151,000. But it is part of a broader clash taking place across the country in the Republican Party; President Bush is pushing a guest worker program for illegal immigrants, while other Republicans are supporting private efforts to patrol the border and calling for additional muscle to seal it off.

In response, Mr. Vasquez says the wing of the Republican Party represented by Mr. Craig has sold out on the immigration issue to business interests. Mr. Vasquez is exploring a run for governor or Congress next year, with this issue as his central theme.

Whether Mr. Vasquez can make headway in a statewide election is an open question. Many of the agricultural interests are big Republican donors, and Mr. Vasquez said he was likely to have trouble raising money from them.



Here's the story, from a Marxist point of view.

Capitalism exists by and for exploitation of labor. Opening the country to immigration permits cheaper wages and worse working conditions locally, intensifying the exploitation of labor. This is why the USA has traditionally been relatively open to immigration -- it serves the interest of the ruling class. If the immigrants are illegal, so much the better, as it reduces their bargaining power and options.

Therefore, any "conservative" who is opposed to immigration is an enemy of the capitalist ruling class. Of course, false consciousness will make it difficult for such "conservatives" to understand their own position, and if they do, their rejection of capitalism will probably take the form of fascism -- another kind of conservative danger.