The explosive issue at the core of the Tommy Robinson affair has been the subject of raging debate for decades. Indeed, “multiculturalism” is now on trial not just in England, but across the Western world. And while many still struggle to understand the full meaning and consequences of this post-modern concept, opinions on its merits are bitterly polarized.
So let us clarify what multiculturalism means in practical terms, as defined by leftists who have embraced the concept and believe it should rightly be the wave of the American future.
It is based on one fundamental premise: all cultures are equal.
Making Distinctions
The left does not draw distinctions, nor judge, nor weigh the comparative merits of various cultures, with the lone exception of our own. That one they judge, with a growing number of leftists openly professing hatred for what America has come to mean over the two and half centuries since its founding. With the possible exception of known terrorists, these cultural deconstructionists openly accept all comers to this country regardless of whether they are legal or illegal, or have even a puncher’s chance of living productive lives here, free of dependence on the state.
Put in simplest terms, multiculturalists want participation trophies for all.
But if you point out the obvious, demonstrable dangers associated with millions of illegal immigrants living outside the rule of law on the fringes of society, you are immediately condemned as racist, xenophobic, white-privileged, or likely all three. Never mind the thousands of documented cases of criminal activity by illegals and the whopping cost to taxpayers. Incredibly, near the height of illegal immigration into the U.S. in 2012, an independent study concluded that a full 49% of households headed by illegals tapped into one or more government welfare programs.
But underlying the twin issues of crime and cost is the foundational element: culture. It is the wellspring of all societal behavior. Thus, the crucial question is not so much whether we should be a multicultural society, but whether we could even survive as one.
Thriving Culture
We can certainly reach an informed conclusion about the efficacy of an American culture which thrived for more than two hundred years the way it was originally designed - not as a mosaic, but rather a melting pot, or in contemporary terms, a salad bowl. We have never existed as a nation-state, always as a nation of immigrants. As an imperfect but ultimately self-correcting society bound together by a common set of values, we face down our own iniquities and settle disputes by the rule of law and the ballot box.
But look at the mountain of evidence from the opposite angle. The nation-state has been reduced to little more than a quaint notion in the globalist universe that is the European Union. Our closest ally and the nation from which our own culture derived, England, has been overrun with E.U.-sanctioned Islamic immigrants. A critical mass of these Muslims have refused to assimilate, confining themselves strictly to their own ethnic ghettos. It has reached the point where many are calling the U.K. a different country than the one we have known and loved. And Brits are now experiencing the undiluted nightmare of multiculturalism in the Tommy Robinson scandal, after that citizen journalist was jailed for daring to spread the word about roving gangs of Islamist child rapists.
Violence and Segregation
But that is merely a single outbreak in the epidemic of multiculturalism. Terrorist attacks on soft targets in major capitals across the continent have become the new normal. Germany welcomed over two million refugees (allowing for a very loose definition of the term), giving rise to barbaric crimes which rarely occurred prior to the migration. France was compelled to ban the burqua. Even Sweden, once known as one of the world’s safest nations, has seen a spike in violence by Somali immigrants walled off from the country’s prevailing historic culture. It’s no wonder the Brexit movement succeeded, and that similar nationalist movements are spreading across Europe, threatening to topple established political parties and leaders.
This is what multiculturalism has wrought. We can hardly look at all this and believe it will work in America.
So does this mean we should be wary of an American society that has evolved into a virtual united colors of Benetton, richly supplied with a rainbow of races and ethnicities? Not at all. The true fulfillment of the American vision - and one day, perhaps that of Europe again as well - rests upon a distinct uni-cultural, multiracial society.
Multiracial
Our nation is strongest when it affirms a common culture defined by shared, long-treasured values and limitless opportunity - and welcomes all who are like-minded and care to participate regardless of race, creed or color. In fact, a case can be made that those who migrate to this country are even more committed to the American dream than those of us who were born here. After all, they have made the choice to leave behind all they know to come to America, while we have been blessed simply by virtue of birth. Consequently, the issue of illegal immigration - and the foreign cultures which accompany it - is less about the immigrants and more about ourselves.
Put yourself in the shoes of those fleeing poverty and oppression, and you too might well make a run for the border or overstay your visa if it meant survival, or even a better life, for your family. No, the problem is not that people all over the world still yearn to grab a slice of the American dream. That is a good thing. The problem is a government that has steadily bowed to the progressives’ demand for a society cleansed of the immigration laws they now proudly flout, unconstrained by traditional borders or values. If you want to see the inevitable consequences of this worldview, look no further than the multicultural mecca, California.
The central state has failed to summon the will to enforce laws designed to protect its citizens by doing what should be the minimum, defending our borders. And society writ large lost the will to protect its own culture from the invasion of those seeking to fundamentally transform it. That is where the real battle rages, for politics is downstream from culture.
Embracing Community
Multiculturalism is in large part why Donald Trump was elected president. It is why Britain kicked out the E.U. And it is why America-First is now spreading its wings and spawning the likes of France First, Italy-First, and Germany-First movements across the European continent.
Have we the will to discern who among the many seeking new lives in our nation will embrace the American ethos, and who will not? Who is likely to work hard and play by the rules, and who is not? Who is positioned to succeed, and who to fail?
We shall never find peace and harmony in this world. But we’ll come an awful lot closer to it in a society which recognizes the manifest danger of multiculturalism and affirms a common culture that welcomes all who share its values.
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