[Graymatter]

Not to generalize myself right under a pile-on, but back in the early 20th century, America was a melting pot and everyone understood that. People came here to become Americans. Nowadays there's something unsavory about that. Ethnic pride (ie, transcendent tribalism) demands that an individual resist assimilation. For many immigrants today, America is a network of troughs---and sewers.

[Clemenza]

People did not come here to become Americans. My great-grandparents remained in their ethnic ghettos without assimilating, although they had no hostility to the majority culture. It took World War II to assimilate the children of Southern and Eastern European immigrants.

The concept of the "melting pot" is actually an invention of the 1920s. I do agree that the emphasis on muliculturalism and the glorification of ghetto culture has been highly damaging to the United States.