How Does Darwin & Eugenics Fit Into the Immigration Debate?

One thing that any organization needs to survive is funding. So where does the Tanton conglomerate get their funding from? There are private donors, grants and such but a good deal of the money is funneled through US, Inc.

Surprise, Surprise - US, Inc is a Tanton tool. US Inc has to be one of the best kept secrets on the Internet. Guidestar has no listing. Google search only pulls up articles about Tanton where US, Inc is mentioned.

According to his bio, Tanton founded US Inc in 1982. Tanton is listed as the chairman from its founding through the present. Who are the beneficiaries of US Inc.’s largess?

American Immigration Control Foundation (AICF)
American Patrol (aka Voice of Citizens Together)
California Coalition for Immigration Reform
Californians for Population Stabilization
Center for Immigration Studies - also founded by Tanton
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) - also founded by Tanton
NumbersUSA - also founded by Tanton
Pro English - also founded by Tanton
ProjectUSA
The Social Contract Press - also founded by Tanton
US English - also founded by Tanton

That’s a lot of funding and founding by one man…

Who else helps fund some of the Tanton groups? Between 1985 and 1994, FAIR received funding from the Pioneer Fund to the tune of $1.2 million. The Pioneer Fund has quite a checkered past and some morally bothersome research funding.

According to their website, the Pioneer Fund was established in 1937 “to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences” from a “naturalist perspective”. Research funding focuses on behavioral genetics, intelligence, social demography and group differences (sex, social class and race).

Several mentions of “evolution” and “evolutionary psychology” are noted throughout the Pioneer Fund’s About Us website. The Pioneer Fund admits to supporting ethically controversial studies…

“The fact that the origins of the Pioneer Fund lie in the Darwinian-Galtonian evolutionary tradition, and the eugenics movement has guaranteed us our share of controversy. Further, we have supported behavioral genetic studies which have shown that the genetic component in human behavior is about 50% and, even more controversial, that it is more likely than not that there is a genetic component to between-group (sex, socioeconomic, and racial) IQ differences.”

The website also claims that grants are made only to research institutions and not to individuals. The fund does admit to ongoing funding of specialized research projects. The Pioneer Fund denies any political or social agenda when awarding grants. It even goes so far as claiming to avoiding grantees with obvious social agendas.

So how does immigration and FAIR fit into the Pioneer Fund picture? John Tanton claimed to not have any knowledge of the controversies surrounding the Pioneer Fund back in 1988. Meanwhile the Pioneer Fund continued to grant money to FAIR until 1994. Does anyone else find it disingenuous for a man like John Tanton with so many fingers in so many organizations including a funding mechanism to claim no knowledge of the Pioneer Fund’s background?

If you still have some doubts about John Tanton’s true leanings after reading the information included in the past 3 posts, how about a little validation from Peter Brimelow over at Vdare? This is from Brimelow’s July 2006 article, “Is Vdare.com ‘White Nationalist?”…

“At least Flynn acknowledged that John Tanton, in many ways the Godfather of the immigration reform movement, really is a liberal environmentalist who worries about population pressures.”

That should seal it once and for all. Especially for those that live and breathe for words uttered by Peter Brimelow.

Next Up - I’ll start dissecting each one of the organizations in Tanton’s little conglomerate. I’ll use the IRS 990 forms from the organizations and FEC filings to shed a little more light on the true nature of the organizations. And I’ll throw in some of their board members’ words for good measure.

Previous Posts:
Immigration Reform or Green Population Control?
Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Those Immigration Bill Foes
I'M BACK.... And Lookie What I Found