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It always amuses me to see how left and right differ between nations. US conservatives are protesting and restricting immigration when in New Zealand, the cons

It always amuses me to see how left and right differ between nations. US conservatives are protesting and restricting immigration when in New Zealand, the conservatives are wildly pro immigration. Their argument is that it drives house prices up and wages down when you've got more people flooding in. If you're a land and/or business owner, that's what you vote for. The left wants less immigration so workers and renters have more negotiating power.

muststopmyths 3y ago
Maybe just a reflection of where they are in their political evolution. Once the population becomes more diverse from immigration, they will perhaps become nativists because their base will drift that way.
pcthrowaway 3y ago
In Canada I think it's pretty even split; as much as we have a "left" and "right", I don't think the left or the right have strongly different views on immigration. We are bringing in immigrants at a massive clip though, and progressives are noting that the cost of living keeps increasing while wages stay the same, leading to a lot of hardship for people who haven't already accumulated wealth. There may be conservatives who oppose immigration out of xenophobia, but there are many conservative business owners who see immigration as a way to keep paying a less than living wage, and landlords who see it as a way to keep the demand for rentals (much) higher than the supply
_delirium 3y ago
There is still some of that alignment in the U.S., but it’s not the dominant one currently. Wealthier & business-oriented conservatives tend to be pro-immigration, e.g. the influential conservative think-tank Cato Institute is solidly pro-immigration [1,2]. But the more nativist Trump-style conservatives clearly have more power than them post-2016. On the left, the AFL-CIO labor federation has historically been skeptical of immigration (and free trade) for basically the same reasons the businesspeople support them (belief that it will push down wages). Though the labor movement is somewhat more supportive of immigration in recent years. [1] https://store.cato.org/collections/frontpage/products/the-most-common-arguments-against-immigration-and-why-theyre-wrong https://store.cato.org/collections/frontpage/products/the-mo... [2] https://www.cato.org/white-paper/fiscal-impact-immigration-united-states https://www.cato.org/white-paper/fiscal-impact-immigration-u...
- willcipriano 3y ago
  Obama was big on deportation. So was Clinton. Bush talked tougher than he was in practice.

muststopmyths 3y ago

Maybe just a reflection of where they are in their political evolution. Once the population becomes more diverse from immigration, they will perhaps become nativists because their base will drift that way.

pcthrowaway 3y ago

In Canada I think it's pretty even split; as much as we have a "left" and "right", I don't think the left or the right have strongly different views on immigration. We are bringing in immigrants at a massive clip though, and progressives are noting that the cost of living keeps increasing while wages stay the same, leading to a lot of hardship for people who haven't already accumulated wealth. There may be conservatives who oppose immigration out of xenophobia, but there are many conservative business owners who see immigration as a way to keep paying a less than living wage, and landlords who see it as a way to keep the demand for rentals (much) higher than the supply

_delirium 3y ago

There is still some of that alignment in the U.S., but it’s not the dominant one currently. Wealthier & business-oriented conservatives tend to be pro-immigration, e.g. the influential conservative think-tank Cato Institute is solidly pro-immigration [1,2]. But the more nativist Trump-style conservatives clearly have more power than them post-2016. On the left, the AFL-CIO labor federation has historically been skeptical of immigration (and free trade) for basically the same reasons the businesspeople support them (belief that it will push down wages). Though the labor movement is somewhat more supportive of immigration in recent years. [1] https://store.cato.org/collections/frontpage/products/the-most-common-arguments-against-immigration-and-why-theyre-wrong https://store.cato.org/collections/frontpage/products/the-mo... [2] https://www.cato.org/white-paper/fiscal-impact-immigration-united-states https://www.cato.org/white-paper/fiscal-impact-immigration-u...

willcipriano 3y ago
Obama was big on deportation. So was Clinton. Bush talked tougher than he was in practice.