The Hispanic Challenge (To America) A MUST READ Samuel Huntington (Long But Good)

Foreign Policy ^ | March 2004 | Samuel P. Huntington

[Cacique]

As someone the census bureau would classify as Hispanic. I think that I can speak with confidence that there are those of us who came here to be Americans and adopt American values. We abandoned our former countries because they were failures culturally, economically and politically. Unfortunately there are others who are here not as "immigrants" but as "colonists". They want to bring their failed culture and failed ideas to America and impose them here. Unfortunately there are panderers on both the left and the right that will play into those sentiments and help accelerate the Balkanization of America.

[Cacique]

ping

[staytrue]

This is an excellent article and argues convincingly, effectively and without any racist overtones for closing the US Mexico border.

And this review is brought to you by someone who normally bashes the "throw the mexicans out" articles and posts.

[Bikers4Bush]

"Unfortunately there are others who are here not as "immigrants" but as "colonists". They want to bring their failed culture and failed ideas to America and impose them here. Unfortunately there are panderers on both the left and the right that will play into those sentiments and help accelerate the Balkanization of America."

Worth repeating, nice post and well said.

[dennisw]

Good post.

[drhogan]

there are many, many hispanics in the new york area who have assimilated and are as american as anybody else. they are not noticed and labeled as hispanics, so this side of the equation is not really appreciated. in new york, at least, the successful hispanics are those who have assimilated, and they are like the irish-americans and italian-americans.
i realize the southwest is different, but i have the feeling that this article may be slightly alarmist.

[drhogan]

one thing that this article ignores: the people who come from mexico to the US are not necessarily the same as those who stay in mexico. probably the more ambitious ones will come here, the people who want to make money. making money and freedom are the two things that pull most people to this country, no matter what their home country was. the same value differences were once true in regard to irish americans and italian americans, but now, at least in new york, these groups are typical americans.
i had german ancestors that came to PA befoe the american revolution. despite the strong german identity in part of PA ("pennsylvania dutch") they somehow learned english, and i don't speak any german. i suspect this will happen with the hispanics eventully.

[Cacique]

ping

[Cacique]

ping

[DumpsterDiver]

The Hispanic Challenge - Hispanic, Latinos, Mexicans, Latin Americans...

For me, the challenge is reading words that seem to have no clear definition attached to them. Hispanic, Latino, and Latin American says nothing at all to me. Even the word Mexican has lost its meaning. It's used when talking about Mexican nationals as well as when talking about Americans of Mexican descent.

So, who do I complain to and who's going to serve me some cheese to go with my whine? ;^)

[cyborg]

I'm still trying to figure out what American culture is.

[Polybius]

In 1959, Cubans were pretty well "Americanized".

In my own family, we had been bilingual Spanish-English for three generations before we ever came to the U.S.A. in 1960.

We did retain our cultural ways which were the cultural ways of the Old Americans that become so Politically Incorrect in the 1960's.

So, by growing up Cuban American in Miami in the 1960's, I grew up in the America of the 1930's and 1940's while our "Anglo" Baby Boomer contemporaries were turning their backs on that America.

As to language, you really can't be successful (serious money successful) in the U.S. with having mastered English. In my generation, it was Spanish that we negelected growing up in the 1960's. Only when we found out in the 1970's and 1980's that negotiating that contract with that Argentinian company or Venezuelan company required more attention to our Spanish that we had paid it in our high school years did my generation go back and bring their Spanish up to a professional level.

As for immigrants congregating, tell that to the Jews in Miami Beach and New York, the Chinese in Chinatown, the Irish in Massachessets, the Poles in Chicago, the Scandanavians in Minnesota, the Southern Blacks in the District of Columbia, the Germans in Pennsylvania.......

[Polybius]

As to language, you really can't be successful (serious money successful) in the U.S. with having mastered English

Typo Alert:

"As to language, you really can't be successful (serious money successful) in the U.S. without having mastered English."

[BroncosFan]

Ping from an old professor of mine back in his controversial "Clash of Civilizations" days (and to think, he was in the Carter administration). A gloomy, depressing, prophetic read. I think of it as something the as yet unborn author of "The Decline and Fall of the United States" will cite to liberally. I really do think it's too late to stop this. And we have the GOP and the Catholic Church (amongst countless other entities) to thank for much of it!

[Modernman]

The biggest problem I see is that we seem to have given up on the idea of assimilating newcomers. If this country becomes less white but retains American culture, I don't see a problem. However, government programs and "multiculturalism" have de-emphasized assimilation.

In my cynical moments, I see this as a plot by rich transnationalists. That includes both wealthy Republicans and Democrats. To be brutally honest, this type of thing is good for the managerial/professional/political class. Non-English speaking Mexicans are not going to take away their jobs at Morgan Stanley. As an employer, it's a lot easier to mistreat an illiterate illegal from Chiapas than it is an American-born lower-middle-class person (they have guns, remember). Products and services become cheaper.

Hell, you can even let some of the brightest newcomers into the upper echelons of society. Helps to bring new blood into the Patrician classes.

The Roman Empire was like this, in its last days. The elites became even more rapacious, while the mob became even more useless to the Empire.

Meanwhile, the barbarians gathered over the Danube....

[Cacique]

Perhaps if you are born here you are so tuned to it that you don't recognize it. With the opposite is true, I may not be able to describe it very well, but I know American culture when I see it.

It does have several elements to it, a judeo-christian ethos, a belief in the constitutional republic as envisioned by the founders, and a serious individualism rather than a collectivist one.

All of these qualities are of course being eroded by the Gramscian success of the left in defacing the common identity. A lack of proper civics education, a constant attack on religion and western values and the promotion of collectivist socialism is eroding much of the American "culture" but it's still there.

As I said before, I may not be able to describe it very well, but I know it when I see it.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Extremely good article, truthful and right to the point (even though it HAS to cover a lot of ground). This individual has given one of the most accurate descriptions of what is happening and what will happen within a very short period of time. Outstanding article.

[Cacique]

Meanwhile, the barbarians gathered over the Danube....

The barbarians are already here. All you have ton do is travel a mere 20 blocks from where I live and see a magnificent Mosque and an avenue full of Arabesque cafés and even a store named "Islamic Fashions" where you can purchase the latest hajib and veil. In the meantime the women push baby carriages down the street while having five or six other children in tow. At least I assume they are women, I can't really tell since they all dress in black and are covered from head to toe except for a slit where I assume their eyes are. Of course these people hope that someday everyone in America will join them and emulate them. I assume that given enough time and the way things are they may just have their wish.

Guess which religion is the fastest growing among hispanics? Right under the radar and it's not happening in prisons either. I think you probably guessed already.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

This has to be bumped until it is read. Rush Limbaugh, please read this!

[staytrue]

i have the feeling that this article may be slightly alarmist

The point of the article is that most immigrants come from a long way from home and because of this are more likely to assimilate, more likely to adopt the US as home, more likely to shed ties to the old country than mexicans.

If you look at the pie charts, you find essentially no difference in education or employment or homeownership between native born and immigrants from everywhere but mexico.

Further, unlike other anti immigrant articles which often argues against all immigrants or all non white immigrants, this one does not do that, but says that because the homeland is so close for mexicans, it hinders their assimlation. And while arguing against mexican immigration, the article does so without prejudice, and without malice.