Diversity and Immigration

What angers me is that so many people believe that cultural diversity and national unity are incompatible. I was taught and still believe that people of many heritages and cultural backgrounds can work to achieve welfare, education, and common defense under a single American flag with a single American government and a single common language. At the same time, they can cherish and celebrate their individual cultural heritage, including music, literature, art, and language, at home and among friends; and they share it with interested fellow Americans.

Italians, Irish, Germans, Dutch, Russians, Hungarians, Czechs, French, Latvians, Greeks, Portuguese, Spaniards, Chinese, Japanese, and people of many other nationalities have done exactly that. All of them came to America seeking a better life. Difficult as it was, the vast majority of them complied with our immigration laws, and pursued citizenship in accordance with those laws. To them, citizenship was a esteemed accomplishment, worth hard effort to achieve. They never dreamed of converting America into the a duplicate of the country that they left. They all preserved their cultural heritages to a degree that made them comfortable at home and among friends, but not to a degree that might destroy the very structure and values that made America attractive to them in the first place.

As a result, the United States has a truly diverse society. I know that, for example, because my personal collection of books and compact disks contains items by and about authors, composers, and musicians from many of those countries. Many of them were gifts from acquaintaces from different ethnic heritages. My own knowledge is broadened to include them, and my life is much richer because of that. So, I would not support a cessation of the immigration that has made our lives so rich.

But there are many today who enter this country today without abiding by the immigration laws. They do not want to learn English. They insist that we speak and use their language both in daily commerce and in legal documents. They are too selfish and ignorant to realize that, by converting this country into a mirror image of their own, they will destroy the very culture that made the United States attractive to them in the first place. These lawbreakers are encouraged by our own greedy employers and by the legislators who woo them for campaign funds.

Illegal immigration is a dangerous process that must be halted. I have been hesitant to join any of the many web-based organizations that champion the cause. Many of them go too far for me by opposing immigration altogether, or by including extreme positions on other issues in their agendas. But halting illegal immigration is so important that I feel the need to support one of those organizations, even if I will have to accept some chaff among the wheat. One such organization is Grassfire.org. Like many, their agenda carries some baggage that I cannot accept. I posted a link to their site on my side bar.