Did you hear about the nation that didn't know it was in a war and when they discovered that they were, it had already lost. I believe that's the case of the illegal immigration issue that is getting so much attention in the media and from the politicians.
The flood of illegals coming into this country on a unprecedented scale over the last couple of generations has significantly changed the political climate and the culture of the United States. The latest statistic I read indicated the the Hispanic population in American has increased 600 percent since 1990. All the other migrations into this country in the past had their effects in a local sense, but never had the far reaching span of change that the Mexicans have wrought in the last years.
Even though it is required that any naturalized citizen be able read and comprehend English, we have codified into law that official documents be published in Spanish as well as English. Even our ballots, which require citizenship to vote, must be published in multiple languages.
Whether the changes being forced upon us by this migration into the country is good or bad has yet to be determined. I'm sure we will convince ourselves, in the end, that it was a good thing. At least the Democrats are gaining from it, big time.
The biggest effect is a pronounced swing in political power toward the Democrats. The Republican Party has, one way or another, principally by supporting more rigid immigration controls, alienated the Latino (largely Mexican-Americans) to such an extent that they are heavily supportive of the Democratic Party. In fact, without the solid Latino vote it is likely that some of the blue states would swing back into Republican hands. One of Obama's biggest worries is that the Latinos will stay home on election day. Not that they will vote Republican, but just stay home.
California is a prime example of what has happened. Once a fairly balanced state with the major parties waxing stronger for a short period and then the other, it now is a sure electoral vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is. That was when the state was basically a white eurocentric population. Seventy years ago only about 7% of the states population was Latino. Today, minorities, mostly Latinos, make up a majority of the California population.
The major parties don't even bother to campaign in California anymore for national elections. To do so would be a waste of money. The huge electoral vote will be awarded to the Democrats.
Most of the other swing states that have a heavy Latino population might go Republican if Obama doesn't get a heavy turnout of Latino voter.
Now we have the Dream Act in California, which favors illegals over native Californians in the public universities. In many counties in Southern California, Spanish as a first language is more common that English.
Many states now have huge and politically powerful groups that strongly object to any effort to control the flood of people coming across our southern border. We have many elected officials at all levels of government whose parents or grandparents came into the country illegally. These representatives fight like crazy to get illegals into the country and to naturalize them, making them voters.They are supported strongly by the left wing of the Democratic Party. Of course the people who benefit from the cheap labor provided by immigrants don't want strict laws involving the finding and deportation of illegals either. The big farmers are good example. Any attempt by a state to enforce the immigration laws because the federal government isn't really doing so, is met with quick opposition from the White House and from the left leaning politicians. Look at Arizona.
Some cities have declared their townships to be safe zones for illegals. Their police are forbidden to aid the immigration service in any way to find and deport illegals. San Francisco is a prime example.
So I believe the war is already lost. Any attempt to enforce a strict immigration policy at this time is doomed to failure. The only thing that's stemmed the tide somewhat lately has been the lack of jobs in the US because of the recent recession. But, if the demand for labor increases, the tidal wave will start again. And, not enough politicians will have the political will to hinder it. If the trend continues the Mexican-American population of the United States will form a majority. I looks like we had all better learn to speak Spanish.
Will they assimilate into the culture of the country without significant impact? In the end, hopefully, but it seems it will be a slower integration than past groups. Past immigration bulges, the Irish, the Germans, the Swedes came into the country and almost immediately started to become American. This was in spite of the persecution that was heaped on on them by the prevailing residents, especially so the Irish. They fought their way into the American mainstream. The parents understood the importance of learning the English language and mostly forced their children to learn it and use it. And, there were no laws enacted to cater to their native language, unlike with the Mexicans. If they wanted to be Americans they understood that English was required. Perhaps more importantly the large movement of people from a foreign land into the United States was accomplished in relatively short period of time. The movement due to the Irish Potato famine is a good example, when the Irish were driven out of their homeland by starvation in one large exodus. The movement across the border has been long, sustained and is likely to continue for years to come.
Go into any grocery store in Southwest where there is a significant Latino population and you might note that the principle language is Spanish. This from the 2nd and 3rd generation children of people who came into the country illegally and Spanish is still their first language. Go to any construction job, speak English and you likely will get a blank stare. Only the boss speaks it, workers not so much.
One thing that is obvious, the immigrant brings a hard working ethic to their job, legal or not. I'm afraid that doesn't necessarily carry over into their offspring. It is said, and it is true today, that the immigrants do work that the "white guys" will not do. I'm afraid that is an indictment of the current generation of young people who grew up not knowing about work, hard work especially, and expect Mommy and Daddy or society to take care of them. At one time, not long ago, the work in the fields, dish-washing, and other menial labor was done by whites. The current generation wouldn't touch that kind of labor for the kind of money that the employer can afford to pay, or for even quite a bit more. They would rather live off welfare.
There are two ethnic groups currently on the up rise in this country. The Spanish speaking Latinos (mainly Mexicans) and Asians. What a difference in outcome. The children of the Asians(Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Japanese) have taken to the American Education system and dominated it. I don't know about the rest of the country, but it seems that every young doctor in Southern California is Asian. The specialties seem to be dominated by them. The University of California at Irvine's student body as well as UCLA is heavily populated with Asians. At UCI I think they constitute the majority. This is especially true in their graduate programs. The universities have had to discriminate against Asians in order to allow other ethic groups to gain admission.
The culture that the two different groups bring into the US mostly explains the difference. The Asians come in with a strong bond of extended family and a reverence for education. The child is taught and understands that sub-par performance at school reflects on the family and it is treated as such. Our current young white kids hate to be in a class with Asians, they suffer by comparison.
The second generation Asian speaks English better than many whites and certainly out performs them in the scholastic environment. In one sense, the Asians may be the saving of America, and it certainly needs some saving.
