I resolved some time ago to avoid domestic politics for the most part. Primarily because none of it matters so long as we are mired in melodrama and lost in the dark without a light to guide us. The fact is there is hardly a principled politician in Washington and as a result little they argue about approaches the issues from a position of truth.
The ongoing cultural war is different. It is tangentially related to domestic politics only insofar as there are issues that still may be fought, the last battlefields the traditionalists and conservers of America might fight to slow the oncoming defeat. Immigration is one of those issues.
There was a time, not so long ago, when I thought immigration was not a significant issue to be fought. After all, America has welcomed immigrants for over two centuries, right? My views changed after reading Who are We?: The Challenges to America’s National Identity by Samuel Huntington(2004). In 1993 I came to respect and agree with Huntington’s best-known hypothesis, expressed in The Clash of Civilizations as he described what he saw as the future of the geopolitical world order after the Cold War. His theory essentially predicted the emergence of Al Qaeda and ISIS. When Huntington wrote Who in 2004, I read it and considered his ideas.
My initial objections to considering immigration as a major issue were centered on facts such as; most Mexicans are strongly family-oriented, they work hard and most have strong religious beliefs – these facts are mostly true and a lot of Mexicans are indeed better people than a lot of Americans. Having lived in Texas for a few years I saw no issue with a bilingual society.
Huntington points out a few facts that make this wave of immigration a bit different than many in the past. The difference is the type of government we have now, the largesse the government doles out and the ability for progressives to simply buy the loyalty of new immigrants with public policy and social programs. (Huntington, 2004)
The fact is America is embroiled in a Cultural War for the very soul and future of the nation. As Pat Buchanan said in 1992 at the Republican National Convention:
“My friends, this election is about more than who gets what. It is about who we are. It is about what we believe, and what we stand for as Americans. There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we shall be as was the Cold War itself, for this war, is for the soul of America.”
To deny that we are in a Cultural War is impossible unless one ignores reality. To not accept that traditionalists and conservers of American foundational values have been losing steadily for several decades is dangerous.
Ann Coulter said in a PBS interview for Frontline in August that Trump was elected solely on the issue of immigration. He was the only Republican candidate that would forcefully campaign on the issue. To many ordinary Americans that want to see something traditional of America retained that was enough. Nobody on any of those debate stages really championed any of the real issues that matter to culture and values. If immigration reform was all they could get they would take Trump – despite his obvious flaws.
Immigration reform and control is an important issue precisely because America is embroiled in this battle for the future. Traditionalists have already been losing and most, if they are honest, know that the losses will be larger still to come. Stemming immigration and a ready pool of voters to support progressive issues is important from that perspective alone. Huntington in Who makes other arguments why it is important, but from a practical approach of simply slowing the loss, immigration reform is important.
I have become so keenly aware of the implications of traditional America losing the Cultural War, I recently completed a work I started some time ago and published a book – The Philosophy of Commonsense: A Cultural War Primer. The conclusion I reach in that book is that we will lose this stage of the Cultural War, America will fundamentally change in ways far faster and more extreme than anything we have seen in the last 60 years. But I contend the anti-wealth, social justice to extremes and attempts to force equality of outcomes will fail, miserably. At some point, I suspect in my children’s generation (Generation Z), people will look around and ask hard questions and seek a better way. If this is correct, we best pass on some of the knowledge and values we received from our parents and grandparents to help them craft better solutions.
I do not know Michele Malkin. In my very early blogging days in the mid-2000s, I read her blog, commented on hers and discussed some of what she said on mine.
I do know she is polemic and something of a problem for the radical progressive narrative; her being a brown-skinned woman that speaks some of the hardest truths does not fit, these words are supposed to come from old reactionary white guys, not a first-generation immigrant.
It seems Malkin has been and will further be silenced for a speech she made on 14 November 2019, specifically for the words below:
“Conservative Inkers now have their knives out for me, recycling Media Matters oppo research uncovering things I’ve never covered up in my reporting and advocacy on sovereignty issues over the last quarter-century. They want me to disavow Nick Fuentes and VDARE and Peter Brimelow and Faith Goldy and Gavin McInnes and the Proud Boys and Steve King and Laura Loomer and on and on. They want to do to me what they’ve done to brilliant academics who’ve told the truth – Amy Wax at the University of Pennsylvania and Darren Beattie and Jason Richwine and Steve Sailer.
No, I do not agree with every last thing they’ve said or written or published or tweeted or thought with their inside or outside voices. But I will not disavow any of them and I will not join the de-platforming witch hunters who hypocritically call themselves free speech and culture warriors. I disavow violence. I disavow hatred of America. I disavow the systematic bipartisan betrayal of American citizens, students, and families by cynical politicians who promised for 25 years to build a wall, end the diversity visa lottery, end chain migration, and other memorized talking points. I disavow Republicans who told us to hold our noses and vote for open borders sellouts because we support the Second Amendment and are against abortion and we had no other choice.”
The Torch is Being Passed speech
This speech was to a Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) in a college audience with the essential message of, “sorry kids, you must fight this fight”. That is the essential message of the book mentioned above that I just published.
Malkin is likely done at this point on the national stage, major media outlets will likely not have her on. She will be relegated to the “extreme” and become untouchable. This is the way with truth-tellers, particularly one whose ancestry and skin color are such a problem for progressives and wild-eyed radicals as Malkin.
Looking at the situation in retrospect, the title of her speech, The Torch is Being Passed, is ironic.
___________________________
Huntington, S. P. (2004). Who are We?: The Challenges to America’s National Identity. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=6xiYiybkE8kC.