Running for president does funny things to people, and that has certainly been the case for Scott Walker. The Wisconsin governor became a rock star on the right for his ability to take on labor unions and the organized national Left to implement conservative reforms. That coupled with the fact that he was able to win three elections in four years in the blue state of Wisconsin (despite all the resources put into defeating him) made him a formidable 2016 presidential candidate.
But since emerging as a frontrunner for the Republican nomination, he’s shed his image of standing up on principle and replaced it with a pattern of pandering that’s increasingly inexplicable.
In the past, I’ve criticized Walker for abandoning free market principles and shifting his position on federal support for ethanol to appease Iowans. Despite my criticisms, it was at least clear to see the political rationale behind this shift, given the prominence of Iowa in the nomination process and the importance of the corn industry to the state.
But his recent gymnastics on immigration policy are harder to understand. Given his past support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, it was inevitable that he’d feel the need to “evolve” on the issue to some extent. So it wasn’t particularly surprising that he disavowed his position and told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday last month, “my view has changed. I’m flat out saying it.”
However, he’s now gone much further. In an interview with Glenn Beck reported by Breitbart’s Matthew Boyle, Walker said, “In terms of legal immigration, how we need to approach that going forward is saying — the next president and the next congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, protecting American workers and American wages, because the more I’ve talked to folks, I’ve talked to Senator [Jeff] Sessions and others out there — but it is a fundamentally lost issue by many in elected positions today — is what is this doing for American workers looking for jobs, what is this doing to wages, and we need to have that be at the forefront of our discussion going forward.”
It’s one thing to make an argument about immigrants coming into this country illegally, or even an argument about the fiscal consequences of mass immigration coupled with a massive welfare state. But the idea that policymakers should protect current American workers from competition from immigrants who come here legally and are willing and eager to work hard is a perversion of American ideals and a recipe for decline.
Walker himself once understood this.
“If people want to come here and work hard and benefit, I don’t care whether they come from Mexico or Ireland or Germany or Canada or South Africa or anywhere else,” Walker said less than two years ago. “I want them here.”
If Walker now believes that American workers should be protected from competition, why stop with immigration? By that logic, why support free trade?
Even putting aside the economic arguments (Walker showed with his ethanol shift that he’s willing to put short-term political considerations ahead of sound economic policy) it’s unclear what his crass political thinking is here.
Walker doesn’t need to be the most conservative candidate in the race, as long as he remains broadly acceptable to conservatives and to the right of the establishment candidates. But it strikes me that there’s plenty of room to the right of Jeb Bush on immigration without talking about restrictions on legal immigration to protect American workers. Walker, it seems, has decided that he wants to ensure nobody can get further to his right on immigration.
As Ben Domenech notes in his Transom newsletter (subscription required), Walker’s new position “to my knowledge is held by none of the other presidential candidates (Ted Cruz is thought of as the hardliner on immigration, but he has worked to increase high-skilled legal immigration).”
The lack of political rationale behind this latest move suggests that Walker is just telling conservatives what he thinks they want to hear, without really understanding the broader philosophical or policy implications. And that’s not very encouraging for those of us who were hoping he’d be able to make the transition to the big leagues.
UPDATE: AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Walker’s Our American Revival PAC responded: “Governor Walker supports American workers’ wages and the U.S. economy and thinks both should be considered when crafting a policy for legal immigration. He strongly supports legal immigration, and like many Americans, believes that our economic situation should be considered instead of arbitrary caps on the amount of immigrants that can enter.”
Also, over at the National Review, Rich Lowry defends Walker, and he notes that Walker made a similar statement earlier this month to Sean Hannity.
