Trump May Hail a New Era of Constitutional Activism by Minorities: New at Reason

The American right has long been telling itself a simple morality tale that goes something like this: The white Christian establishment is the original source and continuing guardian of America’s tradition of liberty, free markets and limited government and minorities are a threat to it because they don’t share the same attachments. In their telling, minorities, especially those who come from quasi-socialist countries, are preternatural welfare queens happy to suck from the government’s teat. One of the major arguments that restrictionist right-wing pundits make for clamping down on immigration in fact is that immigrants, hailing from non-Euorpean countries, dilute these American principles.

But Trump’s triumph on a platform of special protections and handouts to his white base shows this morality tale to be a fairytale, notes Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia.

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