USA Today (Op-Ed)
By Linda Valdez
August 6, 2015
The
two of us strongly disagree on immigration policy and have engaged in
lively public debate on the issue over the years. But one thing we agree
on is that whatever
immigration policy prevails, it must be accompanied by the patriotic
assimilation of immigrants and their children. Support for patriotic
assimilation should unite Republicans on both sides of the immigration
issue. We’d like to see the matter addressed in
the Republican presidential debate Thursday.
The
essential American ideal of E Pluribus Unum “out of many one,” was put
on the Great Seal of the United States during the American Revolution
and came to signify our
nation’s great success in assimilating immigrants. Today, however, many
of our institutions appear to focus almost exclusively on the pluribus,
while ignoring the unum, preferring to emphasize what divides us into
groups rather than what unites us as Americans.
This
divisive group-based emphasis has been going on for decades. In 1978,
in one of his famous radio broadcasts, Ronald Reagan lauded the success
of immigrant assimilation,
while lamenting efforts “to change this land from a melting pot into an
all nations smorgasbord.” He warned that, “possibly for political
purposes, we seem bent on doing away with the melting pot, recreating
strict ethnic divisions.”
It
has only gotten worse since, largely without an honest, serious, and
open debate on what type of assimilation is best for our country.
To
be clear, by patriotic assimilation we do not mean that newcomers to
America must give up all ethnic traditions, customs, and birth
languages. Patriotic assimilation
has nothing to do with the food one eats, the religion one practices,
the affection that one feels for the land of one’s birth and the second
languages that one speaks. Multi-ethnicity and ethnic subcultures have
enriched America since colonial days.
However,
while we are a multiracial and multiethnic people, we are not and
should not be, “multicultural” in the adversarial sense of clashing and
conflicting world views,
ways of life and what Tocqueville called mores, habits of the heart. We
need to help newcomers form an attachment to and loyalty towards our
constitutional democracy and affirm what used to proudly be called the
American way of life. And it is not only immigrants
who would benefit from a re-invigoration of patriotic assimilation. Our
education system has failed to inculcate these values in native-born
Americans as well.
So
what constitutes patriotic assimilation? First of all, if our democracy
is going to work, Americans must be able to communicate with each
other.
A
common language is essential for the health of our constitutional
republic and civic life. For historical reasons, English has been that
common language and we should
make it our official language. Encouraging newcomers to learn English
benefits immigrants by allowing them to climb the economic ladder and
integrate into the larger society. Policies that segregate youngsters
who speak a foreign language do them a great disservice.
Instead, our priority should be to teach them English quickly and move
them into the educational mainstream.
Second,
we should reject policies that deepen ethnic and cultural divisions,
classifying Americans by artificial, bureaucratically-created groups
that government officials
then use to award preferences in hiring, contracting, and college
admissions. Past discrimination of racial and ethnic minorities in
America was shameful. But contemporary “identity politics” and
politically correct ethnic and racial discrimination that favors
some groups over others is similarly divisive and wrong.
Third,
our schools should teach the full story of America. Too often, trendy
educators prefer to view American history through the distorted lens of
race, ethnicity, gender,
and class with an emphasis on ethnic, imperialist, and capitalist
“exploitation,” ignoring the comprehensive narrative of our
constitutional, intellectual, economic and cultural development and
positive role in world affairs.
Demographic
changes have made it more important than ever that our children are
familiar first and foremost with American history as opposed to a
“global” approach that
focuses on other societies.
As
philosopher Sidney Hook put it in 1984, precisely because America is a
“pluralistic, multiethnic, uncoordinated society” all citizens need a
“prolonged schooling in
the history of our free society, its martyrology, and its national
tradition.”
Finally,
newcomers preparing for citizenship should be taught that patriotism —
love of their new country — is essential to good citizenship. Being a
good citizen entails
knowing one’s duty not just one’s rights. But it is not only immigrants
who need this lesson. We need leaders in government, education,
business and culture who are not embarrassed about speaking openly on
the centrality of patriotism to the wellbeing of our
nation.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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