December 14, 2008

Blago and Diversity

Here are excerpts from my new VDARE.com column Blagojevich, Obama, and the Diversity-Fueled "Chicago Way:"

This scandal is of particular interest to VDARE.COM readers because immigrants and immigration policy play such a large role. For instance, the go-betweens in the alleged deal in which Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., apparently the high bidder, would raise at least $1 million for Blagojevich were members of what the Chicago Tribune calls [Blagojevich Fundraiser Held by Jackson Allies Saturday, by David Kidwell, John Chase and Dan Mihalopoulos, December 12, 2008] “the close-knit and politically active Indian business community.

Another of Blagojevich’s Senator schemes has proven embarrassing to one of the strongest supporters of illegal immigration: the huge Service Employees International Union, which claims to represent unskilled workers, often illegal aliens. The SEIU is potent political force on the far left, but it curiously less potent at getting higher pay for its teeming members.

On page 60 of the criminal complaint:

"ROD BLAGOJEVICH stated, 'I want to make money.' During the call, ROD BLAGOJEVICH, HARRIS, and Advisor B discussed the prospect of working a three-way deal for the open Senate seat. HARRIS noted that ROD BLAGOJEVICH is interested in taking a high-paying position with an organization called 'Change to Win,' which is connected to Service Employees International Union ('SEIU'). HARRIS suggested that SEIU Official make ROD BLAGOJEVICH the head of Change to Win and, in exchange, the President-elect could help Change to Win with its legislative agenda on a national level."

In other words, in this scenario, Blagojevich, who has apparently been under financial stress ever since his Lady Macbeth-type wife had to give up her job as a real estate agent / bagwoman because most of her commissions were barely disguised bribes for her husband, would promise to resign as governor. Obama would lean on his friends in the SEIU to give the disgraced governor a job paying $250-300,000 pushing SEIU’s agenda (which includes amnesty). Before moving on, Blago would appoint to the U.S. Senate Valerie Jarrett, Michelle Obama’s old boss when she worked for the Daley Machine.

Tom Balanoff, head of the janitors’ local in Chicago and a close ally of Obama, evidently conveyed Blagojevich’s brainstorm to the Obama camp.

President Andy Stern’s corrupt SEIU is less a union that battles for higher wages for its members than a front for the Open Borders lobby pushing for higher immigration. Wages are ultimately determined by supply and demand, which is why Cesar Chavez, during his prime, ruthlessly fought against illegal immigration in order to keep the supply of labor down and the price of labor for his members up. But, in contrast, Stern’s strategy is to maximize the number of unskilled service workers paying dues into his union at the expense of his members’ wages. Much of his energies go toward promoting leftist political victories rather than getting higher pay for his workers....

Seen up-close, Chicago politics resembles a bizarrely intricate multi-generational soap opera.

Obama and Blagojevich have long been allies, but never have been particularly friendly, coming as they do from very different ethnic bases. They do have a close friend in common: Tony Rezko, the Syrian immigrant operator whom Patrick Fitzgerald sent to jail earlier this year....

The second main reason for Chicago’s corruption: Chicago’s diversity.

Its long history as a major immigrant gateway means that the population is greatly divided by ethnicity. As Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, perhaps the most astute statesman of the 20th Century, noted: "In multiracial societies, you don't vote in accordance with your economic interests and social interests, you vote in accordance with race and religion."

The voters who comprise Chicago’s various ethnic blocs know their representatives are sonsabitches. But at least they are their sonsabitches.

You let your group’s veteran politicians pocket some bribes because if you got all high and mighty and threw the bums out and replaced them with some public-spirited novices, your ethnic group would find itself despoiled by all the other ethnic groups’ wily old politicians.

In summary: clearly, the Main Stream Media failed to tell us much about the real Obama.

The fact is that he’s much more interesting than his canned image as the post-racial reconciler.

Not as edifying, perhaps—but interesting.

And the Obama Presidency is just going to get more and more interesting.

To learn who Obama really is, please buy my new book, which serves as a reader's guide to the President-Elect's opaque but revealing autobiography. Just click here to buy America’s Half-Blood Prince: Barack Obama’s “Story of Race and Inheritance."

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

22 comments:

m said...

Good stuff Steve....how smooth was Bush in ducking those two shoes?...he'll get no credit but it reminded me of his strike at Yankee Stadium after 9/11... I want him on that wall

Anonymous said...

Jonah Goldberg, one of the Neocon idiot lay abouts at the ex-National Review, has been claiming for years that “diversity” means smaller, and presumably better government. But of course, Goldberg’s argument in favor of “diversity” fails when subject to rational argument, as is demonstrated by Steve’s noting of the real results of “diversity” on politics. But it also fails because Goldberg is making his case for “diversity” (i.e., high levels of immigration) for other reasons (e.g., a hostility to the historic population of America and Europe).

Note to selves: Diversity isn’t Strength.

Instead, it is corruption, poverty, chaos and worse. And the worse is yet to come.

Anonymous said...

I love all this data Steve!

U sed:
"but it curiously less potent at getting higher pay for its teeming members."

Funny thing about unions. They either destroy business through inordinate wage demands, or are in bed with employees/politicians and drill wages down, like this SEIU. Since the demise of the Soviet Union and with it the KGB, European socialists basically now depend on the unions to fund their elections for them. The churches are also broke by now and threatened with Islamization so they don’t have spare cash for their favourite socialists. By law German union bosses sit on the overseeing board of companies and rake in big bucks. The scandals around them (bribes, prostitutes on the company's tab, shopping holidays for the wives etc.) are too numerous to mention.

Unions are actually a fair idea because many businesses do abuse their workers, but in practice they usually suck. In South Africa they were used as a vehicle for political revolution, and now that the ANC is in power are part of the government. In that sense probably like the SEIU where being on the take counts more than doing something for your members. South Africa also now has an out-of-control illegal alien situation.

Anonymous said...

"As Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew, perhaps the most adept statesman of the 20th Century, noted: "In multiracial societies, you don't vote in accordance with your economic interests and social interests, you vote in accordance with race and religion." "


This is something South Africans know about. Elections there are basically expensive racial composition censi.

Anonymous said...

Belmont Club "Wretchard" makes the same point about Obama's use of trust networks as relates to that guy arrested for fraud in his exploitation of trust networks Steve.

You're both writing about the same thing. In "diversity" rich environments, people hunker down and trust only their ethnic nepotistic representatives, and them not that much (if Putnam is accurate). The guy "Wretchard" is writing about exploited the trust networks of the country club to bilk billions out of people in Palm Beach (I'm not crying for them, just noting it).

At a certain point though, trust is needed to get things done. When it disappears, people hunker down in private spaces the way that say, New Orleans homes in the Quarter all have austere, forbidding exteriors (as opposed to the gracious, inviting Greek Revival to Federalist mansions in the Garden District). The Americans in the Garden District trusted each other, their homes reflected it. The Creole families in the Quarter trusted no one, least of all their neighbors.

Anonymous said...

The first time I heard of the SEIU was from this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgbCB8QlQWw

It's funny how all of this garbage ties together, ie, illegal aliens, unions, the bad economy, corruption,etc.

Anonymous said...

It's funny how all of this garbage ties together, ie, illegal aliens, unions, the bad economy, corruption,etc.

How "all of this garbage ties together" is called Fabian socialism and it's not funny at all.

Considering the changes of the past 20 years in Europe and America, where do you think you and your children will be 20 years from now?

Anonymous said...

More of 'all of this garbage ties together'?

Discrimination against white males will soon be encouraged

December 09, 2008 12:00am

DISCRIMINATION against dominant white males will soon be encouraged in a bid to boost the status of women, the disabled and cultural and religious minorities.

Such positive discrimination -- treating people differently in order to obtain equality for marginalised groups - is set to be legalised under planned changes to the Equal Opportunity Act foreshadowed
status of women, the disabled and cultural and religious minorities.


Equal Opportunity Commission CEO Dr Helen Szoke said males had "been the big success story in business and goods and services".

"Clearly, they will have their position changed because they will be competing in a different way with these people who have been traditionally marginalised," she said.

Helen Szoke - Chief Conciliator/Chief Executive Officer

Anonymous said...

Snowplow has a point. I'm considering moving back to South Africa if the German government does not get the Turkish invasion under control, which is unlikely considering they are even more hyper-PC than the fricking US.

At least in Africa u can rely on your knowledge of the bush, the elements, your dog and your weapon. Plus you don’t have to care much about dressing fancy or having the latest mods because so few people do have all that or care.

You only need to read the signs in your garden/farm to assess whether an attack is being planned on you. Being in the know with the right guys (ex old-time security forces) will give you the inside knowledge of the African sign system so you know exactly what’s coming.

In Europe and the US people are feminised to the point where they cannot even replace a light bulb and dunno what to do about the illegal invasion thugs rioting in the streets or threatening them on the train.

Anonymous said...

The thing is, Steve, those wily old politicians are currently not looking out for the interests of the ethnic groups that elect them. They work to line their own pockets, to put their kids into cushy public jobs, and to make sure their kids can succeed them in office.

Daley is the best example of this. He's in favor of slavery reparations, worked for "merit promotions" for firemen and cops (which work against white cops and firemen) and he's probably spent more time funneling city contracts to Hispanics the last decade than he has doing anything else.

The SOBs work for the SOB class. They will cheerfully screw whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, or anyone else, if it means the Daleys, Burkes, Strogers, Mells, Jacksons and Beaverses can make a nickel more.

Planetary Archon Mouse

Anonymous said...

sailer wrote:
"President Andy Stern’s corrupt SEIU is less a union that battles for higher wages for its members than a front for the Open Borders lobby pushing for higher immigration. "

Agreed.


you wrote:
"Wages are ultimately determined by supply and demand, which is why Cesar Chavez, during his prime, ruthlessly fought against illegal immigration in order to keep the supply of labor down and the price of labor for his members up. "


Agreed. Chavez was a trueleftist. Isn't leftism ultimately about fighting to improve the lot of the workers?


you wrote:
"But, in contrast, Stern’s strategy is to maximize the number of unskilled service workers paying dues into his union at the expense of his members’ wages. "


Agreed.


You wrote:

"Much of his energies go toward promoting leftist political victories rather than getting higher pay for his workers."


SEIU is NOT Leftist. Yes, labor unions are supposed to be leftist. But if their actions betray the workers by increasing supply and thereby decreasing wages, they are FAKEleftist.

Just saying you are liberal/leftist does not make you one. Your ACTIONS determine what political side you are on.

Anonymous said...

Lee Kuan Yew, perhaps the most astute statesman of the 20th Century, noted...

Come on, Steve. Lee Kuan Yew? I can think of dozens of statesmen of the 20th century who were not only more astute than LKY, but happened to be more concerned with what was happening with the Eurosphere. I understand if you're not able to quote them though.

"In multiracial societies, you don't vote in accordance with your economic interests and social interests, you vote in accordance with race and religion."

Not true for all. You're an Angeleno. You must remember the ethnic breakdown of the cast votes during the Hahn-Villaraigosa election. The overwhelming majority of Latinos chose Villaraigosa, naturally. Blacks, angry at the firing of "their" police chief Parks by Hahn, came over to Villaraigosa in droves to stick it to whitey, where in the previous contest they had, knowing the ethnic score, overwhelmingly chosen Hahn. (Villaraigosa doubled his support among black voters in the second election, getting close to 50%). Asians, also knowing the score, chose Hahn - why would they count on a Mexican chauvinist to look out for their interests? And good old SWPL Whites? The votes split pretty much down the middle. I remember them in my Silver Lake living room, all discussing and debating "the issues", while further down Sunset, in Echo Park-ay, Mexican agitators were flying ther flag, waving pictures of Antonio, and screaming about how the times were a changing, LOL.

Euro-descended Whites, will, at this stage, no longer choose an explicitly or even implicitly pro-Euro politician. They believe that type of thing is for untermenschen.

Not that there is any such politician.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a fan of the SIEU or Andy Stern, but I think you mischaracterize Stern and his goals. His union has raised wages for its members (e.g., getting cleaning ladies in the south a dollar an hour raise), but his members are so low-skilled that there isn't much a union can do to raise their wages in market economy.

I'm also against illegal immigration, but I get why Stern is in favor of it: he wants to see wages raised for all unskilled workers, not just Americans. That's why he has traveled to China so many times, attempting to organize unions there. Most unions were traditionally set up as "international" ones, e.g., the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, etc. Stern actually takes that shit seriously. Partly because he figures that if he doesn't do anything about low wages in, say, China, companies will just continue to outsource more labor there.

Anonymous said...

That link to official discrimination against white men is on View From the Right blog.

Victoria proposes new equality campaign explicitly aimed at displacing white men

Funny that Auster lets his blog commenters frame the situation as 'whites being attacked by their co-ethnics'...

Szoke? Is that a good old Australian name?
No. Web search says Szoke is a common Jewish name in Hungary.

Anonymous said...

The second main reason for Chicago’s corruption: Chicago’s diversity.

Alas, but isn't that (almost) always the case?

What is diversity? It is a way of reducing society to a place where people have nothing but material interests in common. You get no multi-cultures from diversity. Most people barely have time for one culture let alone several. So you get the shopping mall culture. Christmas carols get banned from grammar school music class. Old English and American folk songs get consigned to the scrap heap. "Blowin' in the Wind" and "This Land is Your Land" are considered high art.

Anonymous said...

God bless him, Andy is "healing the world". He is bringing "tikkun olam" to all of us god-forsaken gentiles.

And as a Jew, it really doesn't matter which gentile he saves. Chinese, Indian, Mexican, American, it makes no difference. In his God-given calculus, we all count the same.

If he can save the life of a poor Mexican peasant illegal by reducing the wages of five Americans, he has done right by his God. The Andys of this world eat, sleep and live among us gentiles but have no loyalty to any of us.

Andy is fighting for Mankind, not for America or American workers, or the American way of life, and certainly not the historical Christian American culture and traditions. He is fighting to save Mankind.

And if it happens that through his work Chinese and Mexican wages go up and American wages go down, that is a good thing as long as the net benefit to Mankind goes up.

Anonymous said...

Helen Szoke's proposed social engineering (or social tinkering) is depressing in the extreme. The lowest common denominator is rapidly becoming the standard to which we must all aspire!

Anonymous said...

They say no good turn goes unpunished. Because white men have given the world its best science, medicine, commerce, industry, music, literature, architecture, engineering, political systems and what have you - they richly deserve to be punished!

Anonymous said...

Andy is "healing the world". He is bringing "tikkun olam" to all of us god-forsaken gentiles.

Tikkun olam??? Give us a break, Big Bill. That is not a mainstream Jewish philosophy. Lerner and his Tikkun magazine represent a tiny fringe of the Jewish spectrum. Is there some evidence that Andy Stern is a follower of Rabbi Lerner? If Stern is involved in that movement, then good for him.

But tikkun olam as a Jewish worldview struggles to exist in the real world. If large numbers of Jews adopted that view then they wouldn't have problems with other groups. They would cease their alienation and aggression and probably melt into the surrounding populations. And there is the rub.

The tikkun olam wiki page also references the biblical 'light to the nations' role that the Jews are supposed to play for mankind. And that goes to the root of the friction between Jew and gentile. There is the source of a lot of the rage Jews feel toward whites. Because here we have these white gentile bastards performing these amazing feats like creating republics and democracies, and recognizing the inalienable rights of man, and abolishing slavery, and ushering in the enlightenment and the industrial revolution, and creating the continuum from Greece to Rome to Magna Carta to U.S. Constitution and lighting the lamp for the free world as know it; the civilized world as we know it.

And so who is really performing the role of 'light to the nations' for mankind? The Bolsheviks? The New Left? The neo-conservatives? The Israelis?

'Light to the nations'? Those goyishe kopf even went so far as to invent the actual light bulb! What an insult! G-d meant for the Jews to invent the damn light bulb!

Anonymous said...

The tikkun olam wiki page also references the biblical 'light to the nations' role that the Jews are supposed to play for mankind.

Wishing that others revere you for anything at all is egotistical, not that gentiles are guiltless, as evidenced by the atrocious statue of liberty "enlightening the world".

Anonymous said...

"... not that gentiles are guiltless, as evidenced by the atrocious statue of liberty "enlightening the world".

True ... but there were plenty of Jews only to happy to see that rather large lady looming on the horizon, as refugees in WWII.

And please, let's not do Hitler. Again.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...

And please, let's not do Hitler. Again."

One of the reasons that gentiles are beginning to deeply resent jews is this seeming assumption that we (gentiles, I mean) are all just a bunch of incipient nazis.

It is especially galling in America, a nation that has been more accomodating to jews than any other, and which actually went to war to destroy the nazi regime. Hundreds of thousands of gentile, american boys died to defeat Hitler, and yet this country and its people are presumed to be fundamentally no different than Germany - we're all just waiting for the least excuse to release our inner Eichmann.