More immigration inanity

Liberals continue to promote myths about immigration.

One example in a Kalamazoo Gazette editorial on America reaching a population of 300 million. At least the Gazette doesn't endorse the population bomb nonsense that we're about to run out of food and starve to death. They correctly note that much of our population gain is due to immigration.

They then dismiss any concern over this country's immigration problems by saying:

If Americans feel their nation is under siege by the flood of immigrants, it's not the first time. Waves of Irish, Jewish, Chinese and Eastern European immigrants made native-born Americans worry that these new groups would never assimilate and would forever change American culture.

They did assimilate and they did forever change American culture -- for the better.

The current wave of immigrants will do the same. They will assimilate and they will change American culture -- for the better.

Once again, the Gazette resorts to the classic assertion without any evidence. Anyone who has studied the previous waves of immigration to this country knows that they created huge problems of crime, cultural disunity, and political instability.

But these problems went away, right? So what is there to worry about?

This completely ignores the fact that these problems did not solve themselves. They were solved by addressing, rather than ignoring them. For one thing, immigration was entirely halted for a while. Presumably, the Gazette would also endorse this today, right? Assimilation came about thanks to a culture that demanded it. The multiculturalism that is all to prevalent today actively fights against assimilation.

Did previous immigration change American culture for the better? This is a complex question that requires study to answer, not the glib assertion that the Gazette provides. In some ways, yes; in other ways probably not.

Moreover, does this tell us anything about immigration today? The analogy between yesterday's and today's immigration is flawed in a number of ways. Today's immigration comes largely from one country that borders America. Modern communication and changes in American culture make assimilation more difficult.

Will today's immigration improve American culture? All the evidence suggest otherwise.

The Gazette also suggests that immigration is the answer to our social security problem. I would argue that the fact that social security is a pyramid scheme that depends on taking from existing workers to support today's retirees is the real problem. Of course, immigrants will also claim social security someday, including those who haven't paid anything into the system. Expecting them to fix a broken system is foolhardy.

Declining birth rates are a real problem in American society. We ought to try to address this cultural problem, not drown it out with immigration from other cultures.

Meanwhile, a speech at Western propagated more myths. My comment on the article addresses some of them.