TIME
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2:51 · 909K views · Feb 3, 2017
A short clip of George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan answering an audience question on illegal immigration at a 1980 Republican primary debate. Both take notably sympathetic positions, including on schooling for undocumented children.
Repeatedly posted in immigration threads to contrast 1980 Republican rhetoric with modern positions.
10 comments from Hacker News
> 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!)
> 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.
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
> 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
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]