The Washington Times
www.washtimes.com

Damon B. Ansell
Published 7/26/00

[Comments by John W. Wall]

Recently, Sen. Spencer Abraham found his high tech agenda under fire from an unlikely source. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has taken exception to Mr. Abraham's leadership on H1-B visas. [What's "unlikely" about that? FAIR wants to limit mass immigration, while Abraham constantly works to expand it.] These visas make it easier for high technology companies to fill open jobs with foreign workers instead of Americans. [Emphasis added. An undisputed fact, unlike much of the rest of this smear-laden article.] This legislation is critical to the continued growth of our nation's economy. [The legions of underemployed and unemployed American men over 40 would take issue with this assertion.]

The Houston Chronicle reported last week that Majority Whip [and former professional exterminator] Tom DeLay was under fire from FAIR. [If he's "under fire" the real reason is that his Texas Congressional District (22nd) has been invaded by so many immigrants that a right-wing Republican man will be unelectable - "Dornaned out" - in the near future.] Intent on pushing their racist agenda, this extremist, anti-immigrant group has begun a series of attack ads against Mr. DeLay. [These smears are demonstrably false. Just have a look at FAIR's website, http://www.fairus.org. Nothing on the site could be construed as "racist", "extremist", or "anti-immigrant". Such basic and easily demonstrable facts obviously are irrelevant to Ansell. A Y2K update to Peter Brimelow's classic definition of a "racist" might be "A racist is someone who is winning an argument with a Beltway conservative."] True conservatives should be horrified that the Chronicle identified this extremist group with the conservative movement. [There's nothing remotely "conservative" about the opinions expressed in this article. Ansell clearly favors the radical transformation of the United States into a densely-populated, Third-World country, like India, Indonesia, China or Nigeria. Truly conservative Americans - those of us who want to preserve the country's great cultural traditions and what little remains of its native flora and fauna - are fighting an uphill battle against corrupt politicians such as Abraham and DeLay who have sold out their country for campaign donations.]

FAIR was founded in 1979 by a Michigan ophthalmologist named John Tanton. Mr. [Dr.] Tanton [See his website, The Social Contract Press: http://www.thesocialcontract.com] believed that the key to population control was ending immigration. He explained in the Detroit Free Press that unless America's borders are sealed, the country would be overrun with people "defecating and creating garbage and looking for jobs." [And it is!!! States are fighting about garbage disposal, sewage treatment plants are overburdened, and programmers over 40 are flipping burgers.]

Garrett Hardin, a biologist [Professor Emeritus] at the University of California [and author of The Tragedy of the Commons] and current board member emeritus of FAIR, has some ideas about population control as well. He has publicly argued against reducing infant mortality rates in undeveloped nations. "Sending food to Ethiopia does more harm than good," he noted in a 1992 article. It will only "encourage population growth." [As indeed it has, leading to massive habitat destruction and loss of unique endangered wildlife, famine, disease, and war.] He went on to say that China's policy of coercive population control was not strict enough, and that a "fetus is of so little value, there's no point in worrying about it." [In fact, China's population continues to grow, in part because of lax enforcement of the one child per family policy, particularly in rural areas.]

Allowing poor children to starve to death and killing unborn children only accomplishes part of Mr. Hardin's agenda. [Overpopulation makes it inevitable that poor children starve to death. To have an abortion is a fundamental, natural right of a woman, but it is denied by oppressive governments and religions throughout the world.] Mr. Hardin told the Wall Street Journal that "The quickest, easiest and most effective form of population control in the U.S. that I support wholeheartedly, is to end immigration." [Absolutely correct!] One wonders what other forms of population control he would support. [While I can't speak for Hardin, useful measures would include: deportation of illegal and undesirable aliens; tax incentives for smaller families; no welfare increases for additional children; health insurance coverage of birth control and abortion; and cash incentives for sterilization.]

Like wealthy mediamogul Ted Turner, FAIR argues that the population explosion threatens the subsistence of all humans. [Quite obviously correct.] Mr. Turner gained notoriety recently when he promised to raise a billion dollars for the United Nations to pay for "population control" overseas. [Perhaps Ted Turner gained "notoriety" among ultra-religious reactionaries and Neoconservatives, but those of us concerned about overpopulation welcome his commitment.] Mr. Turner and FAIR's concern over population growth is nothing new. In the mid-18th century, clergyman Thomas Malthus predicted that the world's food supply would soon fail to keep pace with its rising population. And like Malthus, FAIR and Mr. Turner will be largely discredited. [Like most supporters of unlimited immigration and human population growth, Ansell lacks any understanding of or appreciation for the natural world and species other than man. The world's "supply" of other species has failed to keep pace with the exploding human population and is now crashing in the greatest extinction since the dinosaurs.]

They are people with a zero-sum view of the world [Nature is a zero-sum game: when you add an individual of species A, other species inevitably face negative impacts, particularly when species A is man.] that manifests itself in an irrational dislike of the foreign-born [This smear is completely without support. Overpopulation is a worldwide problem and not confined to the U.S. Furthermore, there are too many Americans, too many English, and too many Germans for the resources of their respective countries.] and a hatred of the economic growth, dynamism and openness that has made America great. [Massive Third-World immigration didn't make America great.] When the San Francisco Examiner investigated FAIR in 1993, it found that the group had "accepted annual donations from the Pioneer Fund — which also paid for research that claimed that blacks and Latinos are inherently inferior to whites and Asians." [I gather that Ansell would ban research that might have politically incorrect results. Has the Washington Times burned its review copies of The Bell Curve?] In all, FAIR received about $1 million dollars in contributions.

Dan Stein, current executive director of FAIR and lead spokesperson for the group, does not mince words either. Asked on a Detroit radio station on Feb. 2, 1996, whether he supports a U.S. population of 150 million, he responded, "That's a good long term target." Then asked what would happen to the other 150 million of us [The U.S. population isn't 300 Million - not yet, thankfully], he remarked, "It's a long term target." [I.e., can be done by attrition. And it's still more than the population in 1945.]

His crusade to topple Mr. Abraham in Michigan has drawn widespread criticism from religious groups and immigration groups. [That's a sure sign that FAIR's campaign has been effective.] Paul Long, vice president for public policy of the Michigan Catholic Conference, said that the ads are "shameful and filled with hate." [Why doesn't Ansell tell us what the ads said, rather than reporting someone else's smear? No doubt because they're true.]

These H1-B visa bills in Congress help keep our economy growing with innovative [i.e., cheap] personnel and provide more scholarships for U.S. students to enter high tech fields [a payoff to the native proles, but they are unlikely to go into competition with cheap imported labor after graduation], which are crucial to the future of our high tech economy. Those advertising against these bills are not conservatives. Nor are they really liberals. [What are they? "Commie, deviated preverts?"] FAIR should not and cannot be allowed to speak for conservatives, or about conservatives. [Ansell not only wants to ban research, he also wants to ban speech. Could he possibly be — a Neoconservative?]

True conservatives will recognize that these hate-filled extremists are nothing more than Ted Turner population-control wanna-bes. [McCarthyism is alive and well inside the Beltway!]

Damon B. Ansell is vice president for policy at Americans for Tax Reform.

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