My town here on the Central Coast of California was transformed by the mass migration from Mexico during the 1980s ‘ and 1990s’. Once a trully multi-cultural mix of all etnicities and nationalities it is now 87 percent Hispanic. Ironically 87 percent of the births at the community hospital are funded through MediCal and 87 percent of the kids in the local schools are on the free lunch program.
Indeed. Immigration was the Liberal H-bomb. The United States has been transformed, and will continue to be transformed, with an ever-growing (Democrat-voting) underclass imported from the third world. As Friedman correctly noted, a welfare state and open immigration is a disastrous mix.
There was a group of conservatives at the National Review who saw this in the 90-ies, and who came close to impacting policy. But naturally, the cocktail-party Republican crowd around the older Buckley threw them out, and decided to focus on “compassionate conservatism”, etc. so that the invitations would keep flowing. That should be a lesson to those who are hesitant to raise topics that provoke (serious) liberal ire.