The Tide Comes Back In

From the Wire Services:

Former President George W. Bush wants Republicans to consider immigration on its own merits, not just as a party saving piece of legislation, he said during an interview on ABC's This Week. "Sometimes, it takes time for some of these complex issues to evolve. And it looks like immigration, you know, has a chance to pass," Bush said. "The reason to pass immigration reform is not to bolster a Republican Party -- it's to fix a system that's broken. Good policy yields good politics as far as I'm concerned." The bill's uncertain future in the House after the Senate passed it last week is causing some concern. But Bush argues the bill is too important not to pass. "It's very important to fix a broken system, to treat people with respect and have confidence in our capacity to assimilate people," Bush said. "It's a very difficult bill to pass because there's a lotta moving parts. And the legislative process is-- can be ugly. But it looks like they're making some progress."

Jeb Bush came out in favor of this amnesty + new immigration wave not long ago.
And I'm sure Bush Sr. supports the notion as well--he certainly did not oppose Reagan's amnesty in 86'. That amnesty produced the largest immigration wave in American history, and a baby-boom among the immigrants.
This is seen by "La Raza" (the race), as Mexicans prefer to call themselves, as an invitation to the Reconquista--the reconquering of the territory lost in the Mexican-America War. Here is the progress they've made so far in the states that we formed out of our conquest of Northern Mexico in 1848:

Pop % Hispanic
CA: 38M 39%
AZ: 6.5M 31%
NM: 2.1M 47%
TX: 26.1M 38%
NV: 2.8M 27%
UT: 2.8M 13%
CO: 5.2M 21%

Total: 83.5M 36%

Whether they try to make a clean break with the Union or not (and I do hope they provide the Western World with a lesson sorely needed), they will have at least de facto political control over most of the old Mexican Cession within 10 years. Considering how Mexicans run Mexico, optimism here would be a lie so large that only our elite could get away with it. And, remember, La Raza recovers its lands with or without the pending amnesty. As usual in America, it's merely a question of whether leftist results are achieved quickly or slowly. The direction is always Left. We live in a one party state that showers the blessings, and only the blessings, the rewards without the risks, of capitalism upon the elite and inflicts socialism upon the vast remainder. The only decent political position that remains to us is dissidence, outright opposition to the sick alliance of egalitarian moral fanatics and crony capitalists who now run the country untrammeled.

On Popularity and Soft Power

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/michael_gerson/
The Myth of America's Unpopularity

Mr. Gershon's analysis of his first two premises is reasonable. However, he gives short shrift to the impact of soft power in international affairs (though I agree that it is harder to be at once popular and decisive). The preeminent recent example of the influence of soft power was the erosive effect we produced in the Soviet Union: we projected strength, as he mentions, but we also projected success and optimism and the conviction that we were morally right and that the Soviet system was morally bankrupt. One of Reagan's enduring achievements was precisely his professional competence in so projecting our character and values into the minds and hearts of those living (and not only those ruling) behind the Iron Curtain. Reagan's command over the tools of soft power was probably as important as his vigorous counters to Soviet military machinations. And why in hell do you think Deng Xiaoping instituted his radical reforms in China circa 1979? Military pressure? Insofar as he faced any (which wasn't very far), the more serious source was the USSR. He could see how sclerotic the Soviet system had become and how dynamic ours remained. In this latter instance we did not need to project our success as aggressively because Deng was possessed of sufficient intelligence to make his own decisions; yet the underlying example we presented remained necessary to the effect. Beyond all this, though, among historians the really grand example of soft power's potential is still the French Revolution and the endless aftershocks propagated in its wake, especially in Europe, but of global extent. Note, though, that the ideas generated do not correspond with any exactitude to the actual facts--and one may argue that the ideas that produced the Revolution had more long-term consequence than the example of the Revolution itself (being a complicated, bloody affair).

It is a question of the power of ideas and how their power is influenced by the character, position, actions of those who attempt to extend their reach.