7/17/2018 - Dennis Prager Townhall.com
The most frequently
used description of America by those who advocate for large numbers of
immigrants -- those here legally or illegally -- is "America is a nation
of immigrants."
The statement sounds meaningful.
But in reality, it's meaningless. What else could America be? If no one had
come to America from elsewhere, the North American continent would have
remained populated only by its indigenous people -- which is what many on the
left wish had happened. As the late Howard Zinn, author of "A People's
History of the United States," the most widely used American history text
in high schools and universities, said to me, the world was not better off
thanks to the founding of America.
So, the statement
"America is a nation of immigrants" tells us nothing about the only
questions that matter: Should be there any limits to immigration? And what
should we do about illegal immigration?
Regarding the first
question, an increasing number of Americans on the left do not believe in any
limits: We should allow all those escaping poverty or violence into the United
States. As Hillary Clinton was caught on tape saying, she doesn't believe in
borders. She speaks for the American left: In the past few weeks, leftists have
marched in American streets demanding the abolition of ICE, the Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agency.
Therefore, for the
left, the second question, "What should we do about immigration?" is
essentially irrelevant. Their answer is "Nothing. All migrants are
welcome."
However, for those of
us -- liberals, conservatives and independents -- who do believe in borders,
the second question is critical.
And the reason has
nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to with race or ethnicity. The reason we worry
so much about vast numbers of immigrants is that too many immigrants in too
short a period of time will change American culture and values. Our concern is
not rooted in xenophobia; it is rooted in values-phobia.
Why is this an issue
now? Because the vast majority of past immigrants changed their values,
not America's, when they came to this country. They came here to become
American, not only in terms of language, citizenship and national identity but
also in terms of values.
But while some
immigrants still do, the majority does not. They want to become American
citizens in order to better their lives -- a completely understandable
motivation -- not to embrace American values and identity. The majority of
today's immigrants from Latin America, for example, wishes to become wealthier
... Latin Americans.
Tens of millions of
people have been coming to America with non-American values -- essentially,
values of the left such as big government and a welfare state. And thanks to
the Democratic Party and the left, they don't jettison these non-American
values at the border and are encouraged to hold on to them.
Again, the concern many
have over the issue of immigration has absolutely nothing to do with race or
ethnicity. Pope Francis is a good example. He looks like a white European, but
he has brought the left-wing Latin American values of his native Argentina into
the papacy.
One more proof that
opposition to vast numbers of immigrants has nothing to with xenophobia, racism
or nativism and everything to do with values is the effect of American
immigrants going from northern states to southern states. The large number of
(white) American internal "immigrants" from northeastern states has
changed Florida's values. Once a rock-solid conservative state, Florida has
become more and more liberal and leftist because of the influx of people from
New York and the Northeast.
Is noting the values
effect of New Yorkers immigrating to Florida -- or Californians to Arizona and
Oregon -- xenophobic, racist or nativist? Of course not.
That's why opposition
to large-scale Muslim immigration into Europe (or America) also has little or
nothing to do with xenophobia, racism (Muslim is not a race anyway) or
nativism. It has to do with changing European values. Large-scale Muslim
immigration to Europe will do to Europe's values what large-scale
northern-state immigration has done to Florida and what large-scale European
immigration did to the native culture of North America.
So, while the issue
appears to be whether one is for or against large-scale immigration into
America, the real issue is whether one wants to preserve American values or see
them changed.
The left wants them
changed. Conservatives don't.
No comments:
Post a Comment