I am no open border advocate.
I am an anthropologist and historian.
And I described it accurately.
That others use the term to advocate a political position such as open borders is not what I’m describing. That others don’t like it because of certain advocates is crazy, and frankly hair-splitting.
We ARE a new country. You were in the State department, and I was career military. We’ve both been to other places in the world and seen the great age and antiquity of diverse places.
So, yes, what I said is true. This land of ours filled up only in the last 300 years. HOWEVER... That was then, this is now. It’s full. We don’t need more.
However, the truth is all of us here now have a recent ancestry to somewhere else. It seems silly to squirm around about the truth.
We are not a nation of immigrants. This country was founded by British subjects who were colonialists and settlers. They were not immigrants. They formed a nation with a unique national identity almost 240 years ago. Immigrants came to a place with a formed national identity. We are Americans. 85% of us were born here. Many are descendants of immigrants, but we have a distinct national identity, not as a collection of immigrants who must rely on their ancestors for who we are.
We ARE a new country. You were in the State department, and I was career military. We’ve both been to other places in the world and seen the great age and antiquity of diverse places.
Yes, I have lived in Italy and Greece, the birthplaces of Western Civilization. I been to Egypt, Jerusalem, China, Japan, and India, which have ancient cultures. I have been to Ile de Goree in Senegal where slaves were shipped from to our shores.
But we are not a new country compared to most of the nations on earth. You are an historian who should be aware of the many countries that emerged from the post colonial period, the fall of the Soviet Union, etc. And even countries like Italy are newer than the US. List of sovereign states by date of formation
So, yes, what I said is true. This land of ours filled up only in the last 300 years. HOWEVER... That was then, this is now. It’s full. We don’t need more.
I am not advocating ending all immigration. Immigration to America is a privilege, not a right. And our immigration policies should further our national interests. They don't now. We are being colonized by the Third World. Phyllis Schlafly wrote a study several years ago, How Mass (Legal) Immigration Dooms a Conservative Republican Party There are consequences to our immigration policies that will destroy our national identity and the values and vision of our Founders. Demography is destiny.
Multiculturalism and diversity are called strengths. As an historian and world traveler, you (and I) know that is not true. They will weaken and destroy the country. We are being Balkanized along cultural, ethnic, linguistic, and racial lines. By 2043 non-Hispanic whites will be 50% of the population, down from 89% in 1970 and 63% now. We are witnessing one of the greatest peaceful migrations in the history of man. As an historian, has there ever been a civilization in the history of man, where the majority racial/ethnic group embraced policies that willingly made itself a minority?
However, the truth is all of us here now have a recent ancestry to somewhere else. It seems silly to squirm around about the truth.
No one is squirming about the truth. We are talking about a national identity that is derived from our founding. We are Americans who live in one of the oldest nations on earth. Our Founders were Englishmen who looked to Locke, the Magna Carta, the rule of law, etc. I have in front of me, Samuel Huntington's book, Who are We? He says:
America was founded by British settlers who brought with them a distinct culture, including the English language, Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment, and respect for law. The waves of immigration that later came to the United States gradually accepted these values and assimilated into America's Anglo-Protestant culture. More recently, however, national identity has been eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers of primarily Hispanic immigrants and challenged by issues such as bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship, and 'denationalization' of American elites."
Calling us a nation of immigrants is a political statement as Auster illustrates. It is meaningless and inaccurate. We are Americans and our national identity and culture is not derived from being immigrants.