It's evening in America, Buchanan says, and immigrants are to blame (Buchanan interview)

Fort Worth Star-Telegram | 1/03/2002 | Jeff Guinn (Books Editor)

[sinkspur]

Pat Buchanan is aware that potential readers of his new book already either adore him or disdain everything he writes "because I am the one writing it."

So in The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, $25.95), the ex-presidential candidate and conservative pundit is trying to back up his apocalyptic projections with facts and figures provided by such disparate sources as "Russian leader Mr. Putin, a British archbishop and the United Nations. By drawing on what anyone would have to consider neutral sources, this makes my message far more powerful."

The gist of The Death of the West's messages:

Low birthrates are decimating the population of almost every European country - by 2050, only one-tenth of the world's population (America included) will be of European descent.

The unchecked influx of immigrants into America, legal and otherwise, is gradually handing the nation over to insurgents who come to force their foreign values on us rather than accepting ours.

Political correctness on the part of unwitting Americans plays into the hands of those who intend to obliterate our culture.

The events of Sept. 11 may provide enough of a wake-up call, Buchanan says, to make "the death of the West" only a threat rather than a certainty.

"The book is about a point I've been making for a long time, that the West is dying," Buchanan says during a lengthy phone conversation. "If we don't change how we do things, we'll be gone by the middle of this century, if not before. The horror of Sept. 11, I think, awoke a lot of Americans to new realities. It's a healthy thing to remember there are people out there who want to destroy us."

In Buchanan's opinion, it took terrorist attacks on New York City and the Washington, D.C., area to drive that message home to an American public more intent on hedonism than heroism.

"The '90s were a time of prosperity I've likened to the 1920s," Buchanan says. "The '20s were about money, drinking, jazz. The '90s were money, drugs, rock. The '20s ended with the stock market crash, the Depression, then on to Hitler, Tojo, Stalin. The 1990s ended on Sept. 11. We're at the kind of place Walter Lippmann called 'a plastic moment,' a time when people can change their destiny. I hope this book helps that. I'm not so much predicting these awful things will happen as saying, 'This is what the end is if the numbers remain the same.' "

Not that he holds much hope: "To many American young people, people like me belong to a bad old era. They've been taught that in school, indoctrinated in it. They want to say goodbye to the way our generation did things. This is why I don't think much will be done about the problems we face."

Buchanan acknowledges he's saying things that most Americans would prefer not to hear and that many condemn as racist and inflammatory.

"My response is that it's too late in the day for political correctness," he says. "After Sept. 11, with those acts perpetrated by people we literally welcomed into this country, Americans ought to be aware there is such a thing as too much diversity, too much welcoming. Look: I've said that if you bring 100 Zulu tribesmen into Virginia and 1 million British, the British would be assimilated more comfortably. I base that on those British coming into an American culture based on English law and tradition. And when I said that, something that seems like a simple statement, I've been accused of racism."

Now, Buchanan says, "I could substitute Iranians or Saudis for the Zulu, and people might understand." And, he adds, originally citing the Zulus was in no way racist "because I'm friends with the Zulu ruler. It's just a matter of acknowledging the differences in culture."

Potential immigrants should be judged by one measure, Buchanan adds: "Are they likely to carry on our culture, which makes America a unique country and civilization? Or are they not?"

Population explosions in Islamic, African and Latin American nations are coinciding with a decline in the U.S. birthrate, Buchanan notes, citing U.N. studies. To bolster "American cultural" numbers, Buchanan concludes in The Death of the West, American women should be encouraged via tax breaks to increase the country's population: "A free society cannot force women to have children, but a healthy society can reward those who preserve it by doing so."

Though he doesn't broach the subject in The Death of the West, in conversation Buchanan is willing to also discuss his own future.

"Politically speaking, I ran two times for the Republican nomination," he says. "We came close in '96, and we'd have gotten it instead of [Bob] Dole with one more primary win. In 2000, we tried to create a new party. It didn't work. So my political career is probably over."

But Buchanan has no intention of abandoning public debate.

"I've done my best to say the things I thought necessary, and I intend to keep writing books and to keep speaking out," he says. "I love doing it. I hope the Lord gives me 25 more years. If people don't like me or my message, well, that's not my concern. Political correctness is almost an impenetrable shield of basic realities."

For education and discussion purposes only.

[Torie]

I wonder if it occurred to Pat that if immigration is cut off the percentage of African Americans in the US will grow at a considerably more robust rate than it is now. :)

[PRND21]

But Buchanan has no intention of abandoning public debate.

So much for small favors.

[Don Myers]

Buchanan is right.

[duckln]

Hypocrisy seems to go well with his other trait

So you're saying, anyone not having children for any reason can't voice an opinion? What do you think of the idea that flyover Americans should have more children? What do think of Russia promoting the same for themselves?

Do you have a intellectual response?

[DoughtyOne]

If the policies that see the United States and Europe populace's caucasian race component being manipulated downward below 50% were good, then the same policies would be introduced in other nation's of the planet, so that no nation would have it's indigenous populace make up more than 50% of the whole.  For the record, the white populace in the United States was between 75 and 80% not more than 20 years ago.  That was the predominant indigenous populace.

The United States and Europe are being asked to open their borders to the rest of the world's populace.  Whoever wants to come should be able to according to the United Nations.  But when nations like South Africa and Zimbabwe persecute their white populace component who have immigrated there, the United Nations remains silent.  Zimbabwe is not ordered to stop confiscating the white farmers plantations.  They are not even demanded to stop killing those whites.

Within thirty years the white populace in the United States will dip below 50%.  Within that same period or perhaps a little more, all of Europe will experience the same.  There will not be a single nation on the planet with a majority populace of whites.  This isn't a racist statement.  It's simply an observation.  And having made that observation, it seems proper for people to discuss the merits of this eventuality.

Does the United Nations defend European nations or the United States?  Look at the absolute silence that emanated from the United Nations concerning the 09/11 attacks.  It took nearly a month for Kofi Annan to make a luke warm statement regarding the issue.  Even then the view was that any punitive measures should be measured and short.  Look at Zimbabwe today.  Am I supposed to trust that the United Nations will look out for my interests when our nation and all others have lost their white majority rule?

I realize and accept that some on this thread will think I am a racist.  Some of you will also question why I feel that this nation could be altered to the point that whites should fear a minority status.  Our constitution and government are mentioned as safeguards against this eventuality.  I would like to state that our constitution has already been shown to be of little protection from anti-gun legislation.  Reverse discrimination protections are almost nonexistent and the minority groups within this nation are already given far superior status.  Do you really think this is going to reverse when today's minorities become the majority?

The English language is being supplanted by Spanish.  In certain areas other languages are taking over.

We see the changes, we note that political climate, we lament the fact that we can barely elect conservative officials despite the criminality of the left.  We watch the leftist ideology stuffed down our children's throats via the education system.  Then we wonder why.

Folks.  There are some issues that need to be discussed.  It's already almost too late.  Condemn me if you must, but that condemnation will not be limited to me.  It's effects will be cast upon my children and their children, and your children and their children.

[steve-b]

What do you think of the idea that flyover Americans should have more children? What do think of Russia promoting the same for themselves?

Both statements are meaningless. People either will or will not have more children (probably not, as all experience has shown that populations stabilize once the economy rises sufficiently far above the hand-to-mouth level).

[Thorin]

I'm virtually done reading "Death of the West," and it's a tour de force. Very well written, with vivid and interesting examples used to illustrate Buchanan's points.

Despite the way the book is being presented by some, the focus of the book is on the taking over of the culture-forming institutions in the West by quasi-Marxists, who have used their position of influence to preach hatred of Christianity of the West. The end result is the triumph of political correctness we see today. Buchanan treats the declining birth rates throughout the West primarily as a symptom of this broader Marxist-inspired malaise.

Since people seem focused on the immigration debate, though, Buchanan has the facts on his side there as well. As Harvard economist (and Cuban immigrant) George Borjas has shown, current immigrants are MORE likely than native-born Americans to get government handouts. As the National Reserach Center's study showed, mass immigration is NOT necessary to the American economy: that study found the net contribution to the economy from immigration was on the order of ten billion, a paltry sum in an eight trillion dollar economy. And economists have also found that this benefit has come at a cost, the declining wages of working-class Americans. Finally, as the 2000 election returns showed, immigrants are MORE likely than native-born Americans to vote for liberals.

As usual, Buchanan has facts and logic on his side, and all the politically correct can do is whine and call him names.

[Torie]

American women should be encouraged via tax breaks to increase the country's population

One thought about the above. Given the very high cost of raising and educating a child with middle class standards (what is the number these days, something like $200,000 per child?), the tax break would have to be very generous indeed to really have much of an impact in getting the folks he wants to get to procreate more. (And that number doesn't even factor in the time commitment issues associated with raising kids.) But then, keeping a lid on spending was never one of Pat's passions.

[skeeter]

Folks. There are some issues that need to be discussed.

I'm afraid you're looking in the wrong place. You'd probably have better luck discussing this topic at the student union at your local JC than here.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

Tax Cuts! are not collectivist. While I would prefer replacing the current system, we should try make the current system better. Changes to help stay at home moms, and home-schoolers, private schools, etc

Tax cuts are collectivist when they benefit only those engaging in 'approved' behavior. Treating the moms differently from the rest of the citizens goes against the principal of equality for all.

I'm for tax cuts for EVERYONE.

[Torie]

You seem to be equating "white" with "European." Why is that?

Your abiding pessimism about the rate of cultural assimilation in the US is misplaced. That rate is as robust as ever actually, and in some ways, moves at a pace that is more rapid than previously.

Here is a beyond the melting pot story for you. I was speaking to the Korean lady who runs the dry cleaning shop I patronize. She moved to the US when her daughter was 6. The daughter is now a lawyer working in the attorney general's office in downtown LA. She does not speak Korean. She does not eat Korean food. An Anglo who is about 50 and loves Korean food finally persuaded the daughter to go to lunch at a Korean restaurant last month.

[The Irishman]

I participated in that thread and the poster was rightfully called for having no proof of his allegations.

For you to use that thread as proof of Buchanan's racism is not only crap, it tells us much more about you than it does him.

[Torie]

The main thing I remember about Pat, is that his campaign chairperson for a time was a Marxist, and his running mate was a Bircher.

[11th Earl of Mar]

Do you agree that Western civilization can still thrive while other races become more prominent in America?

I share your feelings about unrestricted immigration and the neccessity of English to be spoken in the public square and marketplace. And I support action to be taken to correct these things. But I fail to see the importance of race in the preservation of Western culture.

If legal immigrants come to America, start businesses, raise families and drive their kids to little league or dance class in their SUV's, it does not matter to me if they are from white Bosnia or brown India.

[A Ruckus of Dogs]

Given the very high cost of raising and educating a child

But why is this so? Why do most folks stop at two children, whereas 50 yrs ago people were able to take care of three or four on average?

Is it really a money thing, or a time and energy thing?

[Who is George Salt?]

Here are some more:

"Take a hard look at (David) Duke's portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles, reverse discrimination  against white folks." --Pat Buchanan, 02/25/89.

In a 1977 column, Buchanan said that despite Hitler's anti-Semitic and genocidal tendencies, he was "an individual of great courage...Hitler's success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path." --Pat Buchanan, in The Guardian, defending Hitler, despite Hitler's antisemitic doctrine/ genocide (01/14/92).

"Diesel engines do not emit enough carbon monoxide to kill anybody." Pat Buchanan, expressing his revisionist views, challenging the fact that diesel exhaust was used to gas thousands of Jews at Treblinka, and discussing "group fantasies of martyrdom" in the New Republic (10/22/90)

[11th Earl of Mar]

I have forgotten, so please reply if you remember. In last year's presidential campaign, what color was Buchanan's vice-president nominee and did any of the other tickets have an African-American or person of color?

This statement does not help your case.

Clinton supporters used the same line- "The President could not be guilty of harassment. Look how many women he has appointed to high office. "

[eskimo]

The main thing I remember about Pat, is that his campaign chairperson for a time was a Marxist, and his running mate was a Bircher.

Does it not bother you that many in the present administration are members of Marxist organizations?