THE HISPANIC CHALLENGE TO AMERICA (S. Huntington)-REPOST-(Very Long Good and Required)

Foreign Affairs ^ | March 2004 | Samuel Huntington

[Cacique]

The persistent inflow of Hispanic immigrants threatens to divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages. Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans and other Latinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S. culture, forming instead their own political and linguistic enclaves—from Los Angeles to Miami—and rejecting the Anglo-Protestant values that built the American dream. The United States ignores this challenge at its peril.

[Conservative4Ever]

bump

[TheForceOfOne]

Here is the link

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/immiact1907.html

[Butcher Kilroy]

You should frame that and send it to Mr. Bush.

[Travis McGee]

Thanks. I've been researching this for a couple of years, as background for my second novel. Most of the book is set in Northern New Mexico, BTW.

[SpyGuy]

And now, we are supposed to let any Mexican from Chiapas, Michoacan or Yucatan march into the American Southwest, and make some "historical claim" of a right to live there? From where does this absurd idea spring?

That's the "beauty" of propaganda: it doesn't have to be accurate to be influentially effective. In fact, typically, it's not (accurate).

A larger problem we're facing is not just that Mexicans and OTMs believe in this Aztlan crap, but so do many Americans thanks to the anti-American propaganda pushed in our schools, universities, and popular media.

[shezza]

In Lubbock, Texas (part of the Republica del Norte), we had many neighbors who were Mexican (mostly legal, I think).

One small three-bedroom house was home to three brothers, their families, and their mother. The mother had been born in the U.S., but didn't speak English (she was probably in her 70s). The sons and their families spoke English, but Spanish (or rather the slang Tex-Mex) to each other, all with a strong Mexican accent, even though they were second- and third-generation Americans. They hung a Mexican flag on the front of their house, and not even on the Fourth of July did these Americans wave the American flag. Oh, and they spoke with disdain of Hispanics who had assimilated as "Oreos" (brown on the outside, white on the inside). Even after being in America for nearly 100 years, this family was Mexican, and proud of it. No way were they American, except by the accident of their birth. That's the attitude I have a problem with.

(I know many other immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, and other nations who gratefully embraced the American way of life and are proud to be here. One Filipino lady who has been here for 18 years swore her oath of citizenship on the Fourth of July last year...she had everybody in church boo-hooing with her patriotic pride at how honored she was to be a citizen of this great country, and she couldn't wait to vote. THAT'S an American.)

[mthom]

The mexican wave is not comparable to any other immigration wave. It is as large than any wave in raw numbers and larger than any other as a percentage of the whole. The big difference between this and other waves is obvious: Mexico is next door. Traditional assimilation patterns cannot be assumed. The effect it will have on what our border will be in the future is also in question.

[NonLinear]

bookmark

(and a great post! - Thanks!)

[walford]

bump for later

[PGalt]

Thanks for the link to the Tony Snow "Building a North American Community".

Very interesting.

[WOSG]

"Mass immigration resumed after the war, and Congress responded with a new immigration policy, the national origins quota system. Established by Immigration Acts of 1921 and 1924, the system limited immigration by assigning each nationality a quota based on its representation in past United States census figures."

This reasonable idea was overturned by Ted Kennedy's 1965 bill, which created the current system that favors 3rd world immigration and 'chain migration' of families.

[TheForceOfOne]

I believe Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter have done the most political damage to this country in the last century. It seems as everything that is wrong today can be traced back to one or the other.

Here is another link you may find interesting.

Testimony before the House Immigration Subcommittee September 29, 2005: “Dual Allegiance Harms Immigration Reform and Patriotic Assimilation”

[WOSG]

"The mexican wave is not comparable to any other immigration wave. It is as large than any wave in raw numbers and larger than any other as a percentage of the whole. The big difference between this and other waves is obvious: Mexico is next door. Traditional assimilation patterns cannot be assumed."


Correct. Never in the history of the US has a majority of immigrants come from a single country, until now, with Mexico. This is unprecedented. This is a dangerous trend, given the deliberate attempt by the Azltan types to 'reclaim' the country and to defy the assimilation process.
We worsen it by catering to non-assimilation, through 'multi-culturalism' and bilingual education, bilingual ballots, etc.

[Once-Ler]

Never in the history of the US has a majority of immigrants come from a single country, until now, with Mexico.

In 1800 German immigrants comprised 1 tenth of our population.
From 1844-1854 almost 2 million Irish immigrated to America.
From 1900 to 1910 over 2.1 million Italians immigrated to America.

As a percentage of our population Hispanic immigration is smaller than some waves we have had in the past.

You either don't know what you are talking about, or you are deliberately misleading.

This is a dangerous trend, given the deliberate attempt by the Azltan types to 'reclaim' the country and to defy the assimilation process.

I don't think The Azltan types speak for most illegals. I think most illegals don't care about politics. They just want to work a job that feeds them. They probably see Azltan freaks just like most Americans view Buchanan, Duke, or Tancredo.

We worsen it by catering to non-assimilation, through 'multi-culturalism' and bilingual education, bilingual ballots, etc.

Well that is a pretty good point, but then I don't disagree that 'multi-culturalism' and bilingual education, bilingual ballots, are a bad thing.

[WOSG]

"Never in the history of the US has a majority of immigrants come from a single country, until now, with Mexico."

Sir, when I state a fact, it's bad form to respond with "You either don't know what you are talking about, or you are deliberately misleading", simply because that fact doesnt fit in with your preconceived view of the issue.
It is a fact that the majority of illegal aliens are from Mexico. This study concluded that 57% of the estimated 11 million illegal aliens in this country come from Mexico.
It is also true that "The Mexican foreign-born population grew by 104 percent during the 1990s, from 4.3 million to 8.8 million persons overall. ... Only 29.3% of Mexicans are admitted to the U.S. with an employment visa, compared to 45.35% of non-Mexicans. --Page 10" - http://www.ailf.org/ipc/ipf0902.asp

Also ..

Latino population will climb from 31 to 60 million by 2025:
http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/2.pdf

"I think most illegals don't care about politics. They just want to work a job that feeds them. They probably see Azltan freaks just like most Americans view Buchanan, Duke, or Tancredo. "

If you dont speak Spanish, you dont know. We do know that such attitudes poll highly in surveys of Mexicans, ie, a heavy dose of anti-Americanism is sadly popular in a country that does less for its own poor than USA does.
What's important is that as a matter of culture, if they don't assimilate, our culture will suffer from it.

... The Roman Empire fell from the cultural shifts created by barbarian immigration and ascendency, why would America be immune?

[WOSG]

"I believe Ted Kennedy and Jimmy Carter have done the most political damage to this country in the last century. It seems as everything that is wrong today can be traced back to one or the other."

I agree.

I also agree with the dangers of dual citizenship.
We should also end the 'birthright citizenship' concept - a child born to foreign parents who are no permanent residents nor citizens should not be automatically a citizen of the US. If that child can claim citizenship of another country, they should be citizens of that country.

[Once-Ler]

Sir, when I state a fact, it's bad form to respond with "You either don't know what you are talking about, or you are deliberately misleading", simply because that fact doesnt fit in with your preconceived view of the issue.

It is perfectly acceptable to point out your "fact" is incorrect, and substantiate it with facts, as I did in my reply to you. You have made the claim that at no other time in history did one group comprise as great a share of immigration as Mexicans do today. You have offered in your reply proof that Mexicans comprise a large portion of immigration. This is not the point on which we disagree.

Where we disagree is that it is unusual for one country to dominate a wave of immigration. It is of course very common. I gave you 3 examples and you have done nothing to refute my examples. It is here that I believe you are ignorant of history, or propagandizing. I'm sorry this was increadibly clear in my earlier post, and you chose to respond with further sophestry.

... The Roman Empire fell from the cultural shifts created by barbarian immigration and ascendency, why would America be immune?

Because America is not a warrior empire. It has been a country of immigrants from the start. There are many other things that seperate us from the Romans including time, location, law, faith, and technology. I shouldn't need to recite them all.

[TheForceOfOne]

We should also end the 'birthright citizenship' concept - a child born to foreign parents who are no permanent residents nor citizens should not be automatically a citizen of the US. If that child can claim citizenship of another country, they should be citizens of that country.

Exactly WOSG, no anchor babies. If the parent is illegal the child is illegal. If the person is illegally in this country, nothing should be granted, such as employment, social services, housing, banking, driving, etc. and law enforcement should treat them as criminals to be locked up on site, including their families. They should be shipped back to Mexico's southern border and a $50000.00 fine issued to the Mexican Government per offender.

At the current rate of illegal and uneducated Mexicans (I say that because the educated ones trying legal entrance are denied as ignorant cheap labors are preferred for house cleaning, gardening, painting, construction, etc.) flooding across our borders unchecked, it would be easier to simply grant Mexico statehood (actually, break it up into multiple states) and allow the U.S. economy to turn Mexico into prosperous state(s) to live in thereby stopping the mass migration northward. Our benefit would be inclusion of Mexico's massive natural resources such as oil. Mexico produces the same amount of oil as Iran and it could remove us strategically from the middle east. Gas prices would plummet as the economy would boom. Sounds crazy but if the government wishes to ignore our pleas to seal the border this may be the best option.

[american spirit]

Great info

[american spirit]

Good info