Sobran awakes!

Paul K. writes:

I find this positively weird. Joe Sobran, who only a few months ago couldn’t see what all the fuss was about regarding the massive influx of Mexicans, has just read Pat Buchanan’s book and declares himself alarmed. Has Joe Sobran been asleep for the past 20 years? Can he only process information if it is spoon-fed him by Buchanan? Will this sudden insight pass, and he once again observe that he couldn’t imagine Jesus turning Mexicans back at the border?

Granted this may not be earth-shaking, but I once greatly admired Sobran’s intellect.

LA replies:

Amazing. Sobran was a speaker at the 1994 American Renaissance conference, and, unlike every other speaker, he had nothing to say against our immigration policies and the racial/cultural transformation of America. He thought we could handle any ethnic problems by returning to our constitutional system, his all-purpose panacea. And from what I’ve heard, he has not had a word to say against immigration in the years since then. Yet now he suddenly discovers the immigration disaster and lauds Buchanan for “being right ahead of his time.”

This is a riot. The guy sleeps for 15 years, muttering obsessively about evil Israel and about the evil people who consider him an anti-Semite for obsessing about evil Israel; signing on with the Rothbardian anarcho-libertarians who deny the legitimacy of all government including national borders; obtuse to the immigration disaster in our own country; ignoring the tens of millions of Americans who are alarmed by it and all the articles and books that have been written on the subject; and now in August 2006 he opens Buchanan’s book on immigration, realizes that immigration is a problem, and congratulates Buchanan for being ahead of his time! No, Sobran is way, way behind his time. Or, more precisely, out to lunch.

As for whether his sudden insight will pass, I would guess the answer is more likely yes than no.

- end of initial entry -

A reader writes:

I think you are wrong about Sobran not staying woken up. You are letting your pique at Sobran cloud your better judgment. It is almost inexcusable that he stayed asleep on immigration for 15 years. But the general rule is that once people wake up about immigration, they stay awake. Indeed they tend to become more militant over time, if anything. There is no reason to expect any more or less of Sobran.

Michael Jose writes:

“…signing on with the Rothbardian anarcho-libertarians who deny the legitimacy of all government including national borders”

Actually, a large number of Rothbardians believe in national borders, and in reduced immigration, although they don’t believe it should be enforced by a state. I think that Hans Hermann-Hoppe is the leading figure on this issue.

As for Sobran, I don’t know what changed his mind. Are a lot of Mexicans Jewish, perhaps?

LA replies:

“Actually, a large number of Rothbardians believe in national borders, and in reduced immigration, although they don’t believe it should be enforced by a state.”

That’s like saying that they believe in national defense, but don’t believe it should be done by the state. These people are kooks and should cease to have any legitimacy.

Gintas J. writes:

Sobran is not a stable heavyweight conservative. He did have usefulness for me in exposing Buckley as a droning bore (“In Search of anti-Semitism”). Before that I wondered if something was wrong with me in finding Buckley’s columns uninteresting. After that I knew there was something wrong with people who found Buckley’s columns interesting.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 27, 2006 02:38 PM | Send