Most conservatives are four-score behind Israel and against the Arabs, even though the Arabs made the same complaints seventy years ago about Ashkenazi Jews that many of today's American conservatives make now about Mexican Catholics.
Imagine living in an area your whole life, and your father before you, and his father before him, when you suddenly began to notice new people in your neighborhood. First just a few, but then it changes. More come in, most from another country. First one stranger, then several, then dozens, the friends and relatives from the old hometown arriving in an ever-increasing flood, buying the houses and land near yours and setting up housekeeping.
The governing authorities notice the influx of newcomers and take steps to limit the inflow of people. They pass laws, step up border enforcement and try to keep the flow to a manageable level.
It doesn’t help. Due to the problems in their home countries, more and more of the foreigners come in every day. None share your religious faith, which is the religion of the region, many are lawbreakers, some are even terrorists. These newcomers begin to insist they want to set up their own state, a new state that governs itself and doesn’t recognize the lawful authority in the area. Eventually, they succeed.
Does this story sound familiar? Of course it does. It is the story of the formation of the state of Israel.
Due to anti-Semitism in Europe, a group of secular Jews in the late 1800’s became convinced that they should establish a Jewish homeland in the Palestine area, then a part of the Ottoman Empire. Following WW I, Britain gained control of Palestine. Even though Jewish land acquisitions were perfectly legal, British authorities recognized the influx of Jews created flashpoints with the native Ottoman Arab population. They attempted to limit immigration.
This was not only unsuccessful, it was radically unsuccessful. The growing anti-Semitism in Europe coupled with the restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine created Jewish terrorist cells, bent on overthrowing British rule at all costs. These Zionists were, in fact, allied with the Nazis prior to WW II, since Hitler had his own reasons for encouraging a weakening of British control in the region. Even during the war, Germany always encouraged its Jews to emigrate to Palestine and the flag of Israel was the only one permitted to fly on the same flagpole as the German Swastika.
Eventually, the combination of increasing population, unending violence and world shame over the Holocaust did the trick: Israel became a nation, formed in Palestine.
Now, of course, at this point some readers are feeling a little cheated. You may well be thinking, “You deliberately misled us by your opening. You wrote so as to make us think you were describing events in North America, but you pulled a fast one. That is grotesquely unfair.”
And you would be right. I was being unfair. I deliberately wrote the opening story in order to remind you that this is how the United States annexed Texas and California.
In the early 1800’s, the area that comprises Texas and California was ruled by Mexico. Protestant Americans rode across the borders and settled Mexican territories. Despite laws that required all immigrants into Mexico to convert to Catholic Faith, many of these settlers either did not do so, or did so in name only. Worse, many of the immigrants from the United States had criminal records. In short, many of the American settlers had either violated laws in their homeland or in the land of Mexico. They were lawbreakers.
After colonizing the area, often illegally, these immigrants successfully fomented rebellion and formed their own state, the state of Texas. Unfortunately the boundaries of the state were never clearly defined. When Texas was absorbed by the United States, the boundary disputes continued. President Polk sent troops into the disputed area to establish a military outpost. While deliberately attempting to militarize an area that had been controlled by Mexico, American soldiers were fired upon by Mexican soldiers. Several were killed.
Polk insisted that “American blood has been spilled on American soil” and thus began what would become the Mexican-American War, in which Mexico lost over half its territory, and we picked up Texas and California (just in time for the gold rush). This is the war Abraham Lincoln publicly railed against (he voted for supplies for the troops, but against the war), demanding to know how anyone could claim the place of battle was even remotely American soil. This is the war that Henry David Thoreau went to jail over, preferring imprisonment to paying taxes to subsidize such a grossly unjust conflict. This is the war Ulysses S. Grant, architect of the charnel house battles of the Civil War, publicly proclaimed himself ashamed to ever have participated in.
What’s that? I’ve switched subjects again? You thought I was talking about the waves of Mexican Catholics coming into the United States? Hmmm . . .I wonder why?
Most conservatives are (as I am) four-score behind Israel and against the Arabs, even though the Arabs made the same complaints seventy years ago about Ashkenazi Jews that many of today's American conservatives make now about Mexican Catholics. Why don't America's conservatives feel the Palestinians' pain?
But liberals are no better. Barbra Streisand, Alec Baldwin and the like promote the anti-Semitism of the Palestinians while denigrating the racism of the Minutemen, even though self-described terrorists like Menechem Begin were merely early versions of the radicals amongst the Hispanic population.
Much as I hate to say it, of all the popular political voices on the spectrum, Pat Buchanan is alone in being logically consistent on these points: he opposes both Hispanic immigration and support to Israel. But that is the beginning and end of his consistency. After all, how can an orthodox Catholic be opposed to pro-life, anti-homosexual Catholics immigrating into Protestant America? Why preserve a culture of death?
In my last post, I pointed out quite a few logical inconsistencies with liberals and conservatives as regards thinking about sex, contraception and abortion. With this post, I have given you another set of inconsistencies.
Next week, I will discuss a set of facts that are clearly inconsistent, but which I cannot seem to form into a sensible story. I'm hoping you will be able to help me out.
Many true conservatives do not support Israel. For example, Russell Kirk did not. He in fact said that many neoconservatives have “mistaken Tel Aviv for the Capital of the United States.” And most traditional conservatives today, such as paleoconservatives, do not support Israel.
But even a stronger case can be made against illegal immigration. There are numerous reasons why conservatives should oppose illegal immigration and any “path to citizenship” for illegals:
(1) The law is the law. They came here illegally.
(2) Our economy cannot sustain illegals. They take 2 – 3 times from the economy via social services (e.g. public education, health care, welfare, etc) than they put back in. In short, tax payers are subsidizing cheap labor for corporations
(3) They have not assimilated nor will they
(4) Supporting Aztlan, they plan to reclaim the Southwest United States
(5) They are 4 times more likely to commit violent crimes
(6) They are 9 times more likely to be HIV+
(7) They are not “Western.” With the exception of an upper class of pure European descent, most Mexicans are either Amerindian or “Mixed” (mostly Amerindian with a few drops of diluted Spaniard blood). Evidence of their not being Western is their desire to remove all “European elements” from their liturgy, and their recent obsession of making alliances with their “ancient Asian relatives.”
(8) Regardless of the law, they are invading on a daily basis (grounds for war)
(9) Etc.
There is a reason Pat Buchanan’s new book has been #1 on Amazon for the past 3 weeks. Americans are fed up with illegal immigration.
If you do not stop the third-world invasion now, in 30 years our country will be a third-world wasteland.
Here is perhaps the best short video on immigration, by Roy Beck. I showed it to a few friends who previously were pro-immigration, and they changed their stance.
http://www.techniguy.com/Newsletters/archives/ImmigrationasanEnvironmentalIssue.htm
My Catholic priest, who is a conservative, is vehemently opposed to illegal immigration. He actually did a tour with the Minutemen. It’s funny that the left-wing media does not give these Catholics any voice. It only gives media time to the open-borders nuts.
Yea, this is an excellent short video (http://www.techniguy.com/Newsletters/archives/ImmigrationasanEnvironmentalIssue.htm )
Mr. Kellmeyer is naive to a great degree with regards to the Latin Americans who are migrating to the USA. Their Catholicism seems superficial, a religious veneer that sugar coats a people who are both primitive and fatalistic. Especially in Mexico, Catholicism is held in contempt by the ruling class and most of its people. Latin Americans share many of the social dysfunctions of African Americans- high sexual promiscuity, high illegitimacy rates, strong abortion rates, high juvenile delinquency rates and very high crime rates. As someone who has followed this issue for fifteen years, I am amazed at the immature views of many conservatives of what Mexican society is all about. One would think that some conservatives views on Mexicans comes from a viewing of the Steve McQueen/Yul Brenner/Charles Bronson film The Magnificent Seven and nothing more.
Here’s a great site where you can send free anti-immigration faxes to Congress: http://www.numbersusa.com/index
In the 300s AD the Romans decided to allow millions of Goths to immigrate into the empire, although many were previously crossing the border illegally. What happened? Most historians agree today that this is one of the causes of the decline of Rome.
The greatest evil today facing the USA and Europe is immigration from the third world. If this is not halted immediately and if people are not deported, Western Civilization will be turned into a third-world craphole
As I just said in a previous post, the “proposition nation,” created by Enlightenment liberals and later Marxists, says that ethnicity does not matter. One only has to believe in ideas (e.g. the flag is good) to be a good citizen. This is a very radical idea.
The traditional conservative position is that ethnicity, race, blood and soil, kin and kith do and should matter. This is the position that I support.
Pat Buchan may be “logically consistent” but he has no influence. He has lost all credibility by his shrill demeanor, his apparent self-belief that only those who believes as he does are worthy to be called Conservatives, and his [I think now apparent] anti-Semitism. I know, I know, I hate it too when people through the phrase out there, but if the shoe fits. I’m a conservative. What does “feeling the Palestinian’s pain” entail? That phrase makes the author sound like a mushy-headed liberal.
Pat should concentrate more on influencing people, getting gradual concessions, accepting some compromise, instead of alienating people, and never accepting anything that isn’t Absolut in it’s pristine Conservative-correctness. What good is it to be the purest Conservative ever if nobody listens to you, Pat?
M Ray Johnson,
Both Russell Kirk and Richard M. Weaver thought that it would be a horrible idea for the US to support Israel. Russell Kirk said that neoconservatives have “mistaken Tel Aviv for the capital of the United States.”
Regardless, we can agree to disagree. Israel is small potatoes. Our very country is being invaded and our President is doing nothing about it! The is the biggest issue of our day and for years to come. I say impeachment! We are under invasion!
Chris,
Thanks for the link. Very good video. The illustration with the gumballs is especially powerful.
Steve,
I know from email sessions with you in regards to illegal immigration that you are an open-borders, North American Nation advocate, but come on. I’m surprised you couldn’t manage to squeeze something in about Christians slaughtering Muslims during the Crusades. If you can’t write anything logical, appeal to emotions, right? Can’t wait to read your next piece, they’re all so very riveting. Why don’t you do that one on how Christopher Columbus slaughtered all the Native Americans despite having never landed on the North American continent, that’s a popular liberal idea as well.
“Steve Kellmeyer” is a liberal in disguise. From what I can tell, he’s a left-wing open-borders fanatic.
Mr. Kellmeyer seems a curious sort, but the illegal immigration question does not rest on the presupposed qualities of criminals breaking the law. I can tell you as a desperately-trying-to-be-devout-Catholic that If Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were attempting to enter this country (which being submissive to authority would be impossible) illegally, I would commit no sin sending them back!