Right Web

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Overview

Social Contract Press, founded in 1990 by John Tanton, is "an educational and publishing organization advocating open discussion of such related issues as population size and rate of growth, protection of the environment and precious resources, limits on immigration, as well as preservation and promotion of a shared American language and culture." (1) Immigration issues are the main topic of the publishing house's books and reports. Among the books and reports published by the press are: Common Sense on Mass Immigration edited by John Tanton; The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail; Americans No More by Georgie Anne Geyer; Immigration Dilemma by Garrett Hardin; and The Immigration Invasion by Wayne Lutton and John Tanton.

"Immigrant numbers and immigration policies rank high in the activities and concerns of The Social Contract enterprises," according to the organization's website. "We favor immigration, but at much lower, more traditional levels. We are in favor of fewer admissions in order to reduce the rate of America's population growth, protect jobs, preserve the environment, and foster assimilation." (1)

The Social Contract Press publishes the Social Contract quarterly journal. Tanton, who serves as publisher, was the leading editor of the press for its first eight years. Current editor is Wayne Lutton, who also writes for the paleoconservative journal Chronicles and the National Review. Roy Beck, founder of NumbersUSA, has served as the Washington editor of the journal, and has written articles for the journal. Social Contract Press promotes books, reports, and charts written by Beck, Garrett Hardin, Rosalie Pedalino Porter (editor of the Center for Equal Opportunity's READ Perspectives), and other restrictionist authors.

Origins and Impact

The Social Contract Press is one of a more than a dozen anti-immigrant, population-control, and "official English" organizations closely associated by John Tanton, who is widely regarded by detractors and supporters alike as the founder of the modern anti-immigrant movement in the United States. Among the groups that Tanton has founded or has otherwise played a major role in guiding are Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), ProEnglish, NumbersUSA, and Center for Immigration Studies.

Tanton, whose concern with immigration flows arose out of his early activism in the 1960s and 1970s in environmental and population control issues, cofounded FAIR in 1979 after having left Zero Population Growth in 1978. The Social Contract Press (and its website) functions as Tanton's personal base for his anti-immigration advocacy. For example, a section of the Social Contract's website is devoted to Tanton's responses to his critics. (2)

Social Contract Press is best known for its promotion of the 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints, which was a major influence on Tanton's thinking about immigration, culture, national sovereignty, and population control. After founding Social Contract Press, Tanton reprinted the book, which according to the publishing house "has been described as the 1984 of the late twentieth century.a gripping novel, which envisions the overrunning of European civilization by burgeoning Third World populations." In its critique of Tanton and Social Contract Press, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote: The Camp of the Saints is "a lurid, racist novel by Frenchman Jean Raspail that depicts an invasion of the white, Western world by a fleet of starving, dark-skinned refugees." (3)

Among the organizations listed by Social Contract Press in its related links page are FAIR, ProEnglish, Center for Immigration Studies, Rescue American Jobs Foundation, Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform, Voices of Citizens Together, ProjectUSA, Secured Borders USA, Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization, American Renaissance, Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration, and Californians for Population Stabilization. (4) Tanton also recommends VDARE and NumbersUSA. Among the organizations and individuals that Tanton regards as principals in the lobby for mass immigration are the following: National Immigration Forum, National Lawyers Guild, National Council of La Raza, Cato Institute, Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), Rick Swartz, Frank Sharry, Raul Yzaguerre, and Stephen Moore. (5)

Typical of the type of opinions found in Social Contract journal was an essay written in 1996 by John Vinson, who directed Americans for Immigration Control, which is another organization in the Tanton network of restrictionist groups. In an issue titled "Europhobia: The Hostility Toward European-Descended Americans," Vinson wrote that "multiculturalism" was replacing "successful Euro-American culture" with "dysfunctional Third World cultures." (3)

Funding

Social Contract Press lists no funding information. According to Tolerance.org, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the publishing house has been funded through U.S., Inc., a nonprofit pass-through organization created by Tanton in 1982 that also has channeled funding from the Scaife family foundations and other right-wing donors to the following anti-immigration organizations: American Immigration Control Foundation, American Patrol/Voices of Citizens Together, California Coalition for Immigration Reform, Californians for Population Stabilization, FAIR, Numbers USA, Pro English, Project USA, and U.S. English. (6) (7)