By Selwyn Duke
There’s a ticking time-bomb in our halls of government, and it’s called “Immigration Policy.” As you may know, the news story that set off national alarm bells last week was the allegation that sixteen invaders bent on creating chaos entered our country through our perennially porous borders. According to a tip given to the FBI, these individuals came here with the intent to perpetrate terrorist acts and, furthermore, it was implied that nuclear material was going to follow them at a later date. As it turned out, we dodged a bullet; it was determined that the tip was a hoax motivated by a desire for revenge. But guess what?
It doesn’t really matter.
Nuclear material, biological agent, chemical toxin – this week, next week, next month, next year. As long as the sorry excuses for statesmen we’ve elected continue to fail, most abjectly and miserably, in the most basic and fundamental aspect of national security – securing our borders – this war against Islamic extremists is practically all for nought. Our immigration policy is an accident waiting to happen; it’s a fifty-megaton, ticking time-bomb loaded with plutonium.
I’m tired of the excuses. I’m sick of the whining, the playing of the victim and the name-calling by pro-immigrant, anti-American special interest groups. I’m at the end of my rope with left-wing politicians who want to import their voters and business interests that want cheap labor. And, quite frankly, they can also save the platitudinous propaganda about the plight of the illegal alien; if they really care they should join the Peace Corps or donate to charities that provide material aid in the third world. I’m frustrated and I know that scores of millions of Americans – that silenced silent majority – stand with me. And I have a message from all of us to the feckless powers-that-be:
It’s the borders, Stupid!
Lock them down tight. Militarize them, build a wall – do whatever you have to but get it done pronto, without further delay and with nary an excuse. And yes, I’m talking to you, President Bush.
Unfortunately, I probably don’t have to tell you that, with a few notable exceptions, those who have been enjoined to represent us aren’t listening. They’re busy pandering to the left-wing elements of the Hispanic voting-block and groups like the American Criminal Liberties Union.
Their greatest stroke of genius thus far is to propose the insanity called “amnesty,” which is nothing but the rewarding of bad behavior. Think about the message that amnesty sends to the world: just sneak into the USA any way you can and stick it out long enough, and eventually some pandering politician will grant you a special dispensation. Oh, it may take five years, ten or fifteen, but it will happen. It’s sort of like with the probability that one of your fellow illegals will spirit a weapon of mass destruction across the Rio Grande and use it to devastate a city.
It’s just a matter of time.
Maybe the immigration-über-alles crowd still can’t comprehend what I’m saying, so I’ll put it differently. Perhaps you’ve taken some psychology; I know you lefties are enamored of it. Well, ever hear of positive reinforcement? That’s the act of rewarding behavior, and when you reward a behavior you increase the likelihood that it will be repeated. But here’s the kicker: it works with negative behaviors as well. I’ll illustrate the phenomenon with a real life example. Let’s say, uh . . . illegal immigration! Reward people for coming to our country illegally and more people will be encouraged to follow suit. This is not rocket science, but simply Human Nature 101.
Okay, now I’m going to explain my version of amnesty. We should make it a policy that if you are caught in our country illegally, not only will you be deported posthaste, but you will forevermore be prohibited from coming to America. In other words, you attempt to enter through legal channels or forfeit any opportunity of becoming American.
So wherein lies the amnesty, you ask? Well, I would announce that we’re giving all illegals two months to leave the country of their own volition and avoid being blacklisted. After that, it’s adios, amigos. What this would do is create a disincentive against engaging in the bad behavior known as illegal immigration. It would send the right message to the world. Namely, if you want to have any chance at all to become American, you must respect our laws and follow the rules.
But the excuses are incessant, and one that is trotted out to justify amnesty is especially ironic. Many will say, and TV commentator Bill O’Reilly is among them, that we just can’t deport ten million people. Moreover, they say it’s too “expensive.”
But they’re wrong on both counts.
Sadly, I very much doubt that we will deport the illegals but I know we “can,” meaning, we’re capable of doing so. But the irony is in the fact that most of the very same people who believed that we could nationalize health care and that the government could micromanage this very complex 14 percent of our economy in perpetuity, will now swear six ways to Friday that expelling illegal aliens – a legitimate role of government – is an insurmountable task.
And too expensive? If we can find billions to spend on the incarceration of and services for illegal aliens, and billions more for the plenitude of other social programs for which Uncle Sam extracts money from us, trust me, we can pony up some greenbacks for this.
Then there’s the tactic whereby the open-borders demagogues will try to marginalize those who dare put forth such common-sense proposals. “Why, the military isn’t a police force” or, “What do you wanna do, build a wall around the country?,” they will retort. My answers are simple: if we can use the military for “nation building” in foreign lands, we can use them for nation-protecting in the southwest sands. And a wall? Well, if a fence or wall across the southern border is necessary, then by all means. Hey, if the ancient Chinese could do it so can we. Yeah, the “Great Wall of America” – sort of has a ring to it.
However, I would be remiss if I concluded here, because in point of fact illegal immigration is only the tip of the iceberg. Truth be known, we must re-examine the obsession we have with immigration, period.
You see, while illegal immigration is a ticking time-bomb that will eventually lead to sudden material destruction, the current, insanely high level of legal immigration is a death-by-a-thousand-cuts that is leading to incremental cultural destruction. The reason for this is threefold: the high levels themselves, the nature of the average modern immigrant and multiculturalism.
When considering the first matter, I will mention that immigration-on-the-brain types are wont to remind us that we are a “nation of immigrants.” However, despite this apparent zeal for perpetuating American traditions, they curiously neglect to point out that levels of immigration since 1965 have dwarfed what was the norm for all of our history theretofore.
Prior to that year, the average per annum rate of immigration was 200,000. What happened in 1965, however, was that something was enacted called the “Immigration Reform Act,” which opened the floodgates for an unprecedented degree of legal immigration. This, despite promises made by proponents of the act, such as Ted Kennedy [who else?], that ultimately it wouldn’t change the level or nature of American immigration.
Consequently, since 1965 we have – I would say “absorbed” but in great measure we are the ones being absorbed – 26,000,000 legal immigrants. Now, if we had maintained normal, pre-Immigration Deform Act levels, we would have taken in only 8,000,000 immigrants since 1965. This leaves us with an excess of approximately 18,000,000 immigrants, and this means that to reach a zero baseline we would have to have no immigration whatsoever for the next ninety years.
However you crunch the numbers, though, the fact of the matter is that even a normal, healthy society that respected its own culture and that allowed the entry of only those who desired to “do as the Romans do” would have trouble assimilating such a vast army of foreigners. Sadly, however, the above characterizations describe neither modern America nor a goodly majority of the immigrants who now land on our shores.
I remember a story told by a high school history teacher of mine concerning an immigrant he knew when he was a lad, so this probably takes us back about sixty years. He spoke of how enthusiastic the man was about his newfound home and quoted him as having said, “We’re going to be AMERICAN!” The emphatic tone with which the teacher related the comment bespoke of the passion the man had for his new country and high regard in which he held her.
Of course, this was not uncommon. Those were times when being American was held in high esteem and the opportunity to become so was considered the greatest of blessings. As you might expect, in keeping with this attitude, such people often embraced all slices of Americana with vigor.
But alas, those days are no more.
Contrast my teacher’s experience with one I can relate to you firsthand, as it involves a former acquaintance of mine. This fellow came here as a Ukranian of Russian descent and became naturalized as a youngster. However, he bore no love for America and spoke of how he wanted to remain here to make money, but one day hoped to return to the motherland. He was very proud of his Russian heritage and it was quite obvious that the land of the Czars was where his loyalty lay. I sort of got the feeling that he wanted to mine the USA for all she was worth and then jump ship as soon as she started listing.
Now, if he had been an anomaly it wouldn’t have warranted mention. But I venture to say that if you’re like most Americans you’ve met someone just like him. Oh, sure, the contempt for America and self-serving attitude are often veiled, but you usually know these folks when you meet them. The hard, cold, politically-incorrect truth of the matter is that an inordinate number of recent immigrants have no interest in becoming American. They’re not interested in embracing our culture, rather, they expect us to accommodate theirs. They don’t care about our history and sometimes don’t even seem to want to learn our language.
Couple this with the cultural poison known euphemistically as “multiculturalism” and you have a recipe for the complete denuding of our cultural landscape. Why? Well, firstly, the multiculturalists have been consistently applying pressure on those of us who still have hold on our sanity to place every culture ahead of our own. To speak of the expectation that immigrants should assimilate – as they had always done – is “intolerant,” “insensitive” and “ethnocentric.” Rather, the onus is put on us as we are expected to do the unprecedented: cater to the every whim of the worst of the immigrant malcontents and do as the Romans do . . .even though we’re not in Rome, but America.
Secondly, multiculturalists actually encourage immigrants and others not to assimilate. Instead, they inculcate them with the notion that they not only have a right but a duty to hold on to every aspect of their culture, since all cultures deserve equal footing and “our strength lies in our diversity.” And these social-engineers are immensely powerful; they occupy prominent positions in academia, Hollywood, the Democrat Party and the media. And every new immigrant is used by them as ammunition, as they say “Listen, how can you say that we must be united by one dominant, common culture? After all, just look at all the disparate groups that reside within our borders – would you impose your values on them?” And be afraid, very afraid, for the larger these groups become the more effectively the multiculturalists will be able to make this argument. Be under no illusions, these immigrants – the good, the bad and the ugly – are being used as pawns by these demagogues in their effort to reshape America.
This is why I propose a five-year moratorium on all immigration. This would provide us the opportunity to take a collective step back, deep breath and chance to count to ten so that we can assess the matter in a very sober fashion. I know, the immigration-on-the-brain demagogues will say it’s a “radical proposal.”
But that is utter nonsense and the most pernicious of propaganda.
I ask you, what is radicalism? Recognizing the fact that we’ve lost our bearings and that we need to regroup and get off a runaway train that’s hurtling toward oblivion? Or, perpetuating the misbegotten policies whose fruits have been the endangering of the very Republic itself? Albert Einstein once defined insanity as “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I not only say that the pro-immigration forces are the true radicals, but I also submit to you that they have only a very uncertain hold on their sanity.
The mortal danger posed to us by illegal immigration is obvious. The cultural danger posed by all immigration is just as real and even, dare I say, more threatening. For, it endangers the very soul of America. And you know what I’m talking about; you see it when your government uses our tax dollars to print official documents in foreign languages. You see it when you witness the unrelenting attacks upon our cultural traditions based upon diversity/tolerance/inclusiveness arguments. Why, even Christmas is in the crosshairs now. You see it in The Student Movement of Aztlan Chicanos [MEChA], which seeks to reconquer the American Southwest in the name of Mexico. And, yes, you see it when you hear about a Michigan town that is now broadcasting Muslim prayers five times a day.
The time to act is now. Yes, we are a nation of immigrants, but that statement begs perspective. After all, virtually all peoples comprise immigrants, you just need to go back far enough in history. The American Indians themselves came here 20,000 years ago across a land bridge from Asia. Be that as it may, however, we are not the America that was a sparsely populated wilderness where the deer and the antelope played. We are now a mature, high-tech civilization of 300,000,000 people. Nor are we still a nation with a strong sense of national identity, a people that knows who they are and where they want to go. We now are beset on all sides by multiculturalists and other traitorous forces that will not rest until every last remnant of the America that had been bequeathed to us is reduced to embers. And the clock is ticking, ticking, ticking, as the politicians fiddle while American culture burns.
