Posted on 09/30/2007 12:34:34 PM PDT by george76
"The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy."
- Sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset
Americans have an almost blind faith in the melting pot. Not without reason. Our greatest national achievement is fashioning a common identity out of a wide variety of races, nationalities and ethnic groups.
The melting pot melted and we became (with a few lumps) one nation and one people. We did not create a perfect world, but we became a unified nation with a common identity, common language and common allegiances. E Pluribus Unum (From Many, One) is both a promise and a challenge.
Today, that unity is at risk. Immigrants make up more than 10 percent of our population, which has only happened once before in our history, and they are disproportionately Spanish-speakers who can (and do) maintain contact with the old country. We have never taken so disproportionate an amount of immigrants from one linguistic group.
So the numbers, the proximity, the incessant flow of Spanish-speaking immigrants, year after year, are building up a bilingual, bicultural society within our society. The tradition that people would drop old loyalties and join us in our polity is disappearing under these pressures. Now some immigrants can vote for both president of Mexico and president of the United States (the latter in either English or Spanish), and we have abandoned the idea that we "foreswear all other allegiances."
(Excerpt) Read more at denverpost.com ...
We are one nation... But is it the US, or Mexico?
BTT
Much my thought when my local paper recently ran an ad for election precinct workers -- bilingual only needed. "Bilingual," in today's jargon meaning, of course, "Spanish/English."
“Bilingual” also means helping Mexicans vote in American elections.
Just like it is impossible to eliminate vice, it will be seen that "closing" the border will also be impossible. So fighting that battle is a waste of time and political capital that could be better spent elsewhere.
And we should not forget about a counter-attack against the spanish invasion. We should pressure Mexico to open up their immigration rules and their property rights laws so that Americans can move there and invest. That will pull the Mexican economy up by the bootstraps, and perhaps someday it will be the 100 million of Mexico that will be speaking English rather than the 300 million of America speaking Spanish.
America has objectively the superior culture on the planet. We should start acting like it and seek to advance our culture instead of going on defense and pulling up the drawbridge at the border. What are we scared of? We should convert the world to our way of life, instead of withdrawing into our borders and hiding like scared children.
No kidding.
Of course there can be no unity if there’s no common language.
No communication = no unity
Check this out, from 1915. (you may have seen it but everyone should be aware of it)
http://www.rpatrick.com/USA/americanism/
Welcome to FR!
We are one nation, but unity is at risk....
No...we are not...the lib/dems have balkanized this once great nation into hyphenated-americans that have no use for american culture/language or pride!!!
celebrate diversity...it really did well with the building of the tower of babel
oops
Between the rest of us and the democRats
Teehee. Except for the fact that the liberals hate unity because it goes against diversity. Unity makes it just a tad bit harder for the liberals to divide and conquer the American population by pitting one group against another.
My supervisor used to have one of those posters in his office. A smug vandy grad who was quite illiterate on the founding of this nation and the idea of freedom. Diversity divides and segregates.
I completely agree with your assessment.
“...but unity is at risk”
Wait till the lawnmower hits the turd and see what happens then before suggesting that this is a united country. Is there any other country on this globe with the diversity that we have and survived?
Fining employers of illegals many thousands of dollars per illegal on the first conviction and closing said business on the second conviction would solve the problem within months. No one has the right to squat in America and no one has the right to aid and abet lawbreakers.
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