Holding Back The Tide [joshua]

Clark S. Judge, special advisor to President Ronald Reagan, recently asked his readers, "Have we lost touch with the American narrative, with the nuances of the nation's culture, with the fabric of its life?" His question, coming on the heel's of Barack Obama's historic Presidential victory, conveyed concern over the values of a country so quick to place it's care in the hands of so liberal a man. Is President-elect Obama's acsendency evidence of the American way lost? I would say not. His is a cyclic triumph; a political season. But our way is under attack from a different source, and I think we ought to try and save it.

With some space and more time, I could show how American values, in their original and best form, are directly linked to Christian values. I could show how freedom, self-government, and democratic law foster an environment which brings out the best in us. But let me assume we can agree that our American ideals are worth preserving. [For further clarification on just what our ideals are - see Alexis deTocqueville. His observations of early America are the most distilled picture of what I'm referring to.]

Any cursory glance at modern society reveals corruption and evil aplenty. No question about it. I think inward spiritual decay necessarily precedes the outward display of it. Depravity signals spiritual deficit. Assuming a connection between our American values and Christian morals, it's clear that spiritual decay in America has also wrought the abandonment of our civic ideals. Misery loves company; as the keepers of our values falter [people of faith], those with less fervor for our American way discard it easily. To compound the problem, we accept of a daily influx of people with no connection to our culture and who've no intention of adopting it. This aspect of the problem is larger than most people realize, and I'd like to examine it.

While our national spiritual health must absolutely be addressed, discipline in action is often the first step to recovery. Let me suggest something controversial and ask you to stick with me through the end of my argument. I think we ought to stop all immigration into our country except in the most exceptionally worthy cases. I know. It's actually a bit of a painful thing for me to say. Heck, like many of you, my great-grandparents were bonafide foreign immigrants. Just like the immigrants of today, they came here in hope of a better life. But something is different now, and it's not, in fact, the people who want to come here. They are largely the same. Rather, we've changed.

Before the 1960s, immigrants were expected to learn English, be self-sufficient, and, as the Citizenship Oath says, truly give "all allegiance and fidelity" to the United States. They were expected to become patriotic Americans. Immigrants entering our nation today are met with an entirely different experience. Mark Kirkorian, Director of the Center for Immigration Studies puts it this way, "[T]he rise of identity politics, political correctness, and Great Society programs means we no longer make these demands. In short, the problem isn't them, it's us." We no longer demand of new citizens that they become "Americans". Public schools love to indoctrinate kids with the idea of America as the "Great Melting Pot", but it is a modern day myth. Hardly anyone "melts" anymore. Demanding that anyone learn our language is insensitive, demanding that they work is uncaring, demanding that they love our country is unreasonable.

A few statistics from the Center for Immigration Studies, "Massive Mexican immigration into the United States is a relatively new problem - in 1970 there were less than 800,000 living here. Now there are more than twelve million. Mexican immigrants have the lowest citizenship rate of any immigrant group, 43% of illegal Mexican households use at least one major welfare program, and even third generation Mexican-Americans use welfare at a level three times that of American natives. Polling shows that over half of Mexicans believe the American southwest belongs to them, and their children are much more likely to be incarcerated than Americans. Second-generation males aged 18-39 from El Salvador and Guatemala are incarcerated at a rate six times higher than American natives, and those from Mexico at a rate eight times higher. Studies show illegal immigrants pull down wages - about 40% in California between the years of 1969 and 1997. The United States spent about $4.5 billion subsidizing the education of foreign college students from 2005-06. The average lifetime cost of low-skilled immigrant households was about $1.2 million to American taxpayers."

As Krikorian has noted, there are three major problems associated with massive immigration - both legal and illegal. First, low-wage illegal workers drive down wages and thereby discourage innovation. If labor is cheap, companies have no incentive to create new methods of production. Economies grow when creative destruction occurs, that is, old jobs are phased out as new technology is invented to replace the workers, and new jobs are created in the production and implementation of the new technology. This growth is stymied by cheap immigrant labor. Second, the whole idea that there is a class of jobs that are unfit for dignified American citizens destroys the very thing that democracy is founded on. Self-discipline and hard-work are corner-posts of self-government and individual liberty. I want my kids to learn those values through a hard days work. Mass immigration perpetuates the notion that there are some jobs which are beneath American citizens, and that destroys equality, placing some above others. This is truly a moral issue. Thirdly, its a security issue. The quintessential example of this is the case of the Fort Dix Six. Three of these men, all from the Middle East, crossed the Mexican border in 1984. In 2007, by all external accounts, they were Americanized. They spoke English well and went by English names. None were citizens. They were caught by the FBI plotting to blow up Fort Dix military base. They had not bought into our values.

Why all the problems associated with immigrants? Because the United States government has become an enabler for their vices. We require nothing, and give everything. Why is it bad for America? Because it threatens the integrity of our American ideals. We are diluting our nation of Americans into a nation of Ameri-Mexicans, Ameri-Vietnamese, Ameri-Guatemalans, Ameri-Whatever. People leave their homelands to reap the benefits of being in America without having to truly become part of it - and they do quite well. It is our country that gets the short end of the stick.

We solve this problem by aggressively overhauling our immigration policy. Of course, we cannot deport 12 million people. What we can do is virtually shut down the borders until we can get control of the problem. In order to become a citizen, you must be college educated or otherwise demonstrably skilled. You must be able-bodied and self-sufficient. Exceptions can be made for marriage to a citizen. You may bring your family into the country once you are financially established here. All immigrants must learn English. They must learn about American culture and history and swear allegiance to the United States. As for the illegals currently in the country, we first deport those we can. Then we eliminate the largest reason they come; jobs. We impose dramatic fines for employers found to be employing illegals. Once the jobs dry up, many illegals will return home on their own. We completely eliminate welfare programs for illegals.

If America is to maintain "the fabric of [her] life", then her people must subscribe to her unique culture. It's that dynamic that made immigration such a source of her strength in the early 1900s and it's the lack of it which has begun to undermine her. With some adjustment and good sense, I think it can again be a vital part of our democracy.