People use that phrase, ‘the great replacement theory,’ to mean a range of related things, and it’s worth thinking them through.
Vivek Ramaswamy said at the debate Wednesday night that “the great replacement theory is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.” People use that phrase, “the great replacement theory,” to mean a range of related things, and it’s worth thinking them through.
Which I tried to do in a column in May 2022:
The 200-proof version of the theory . . . is that Jews are trying to destroy the old white majority of the country via immigration, and they are doing it to create a political order more to their liking. It is a vile and stupid stew of racism and antisemitism, as should be obvious to almost everyone.
A weaker form of the theory, however, starts with two accurate points: “that immigration has aided the Democratic Party over the last generation, and that Democrats have noticed and applauded it.” But even those true points can be extrapolated too far:
Any theory built on this connection will, however, become less and less plausible as it grows more conspiratorial. In the real world, people have supported liberal immigration policies for a long list of reasons. Some people think these policies strengthen the U.S. economy; some people associate them with tolerance; some people want the same opportunities they have found here for their cousins. Even the purely political motives of Democratic politicians and strategists are mixed. Granting citizenship to illegal immigrants is a way to win their votes, but it is also a way to win the votes of their friends and relatives who already have it.
The major laws governing immigration policy were passed with large bipartisan majorities in 1965, 1986 and 1990, at a time when neither party saw the issue as a dividing line between them. To the extent that the limits on immigration have not been enforced since these laws were passed, it has had more to do with business opposition than with anyone’s desire to change the country’s political demography.