The American soul
To the editor:
The recent increase of immigration from developing countries to those better developed only serves to point out the fact there are not enough jobs for the tremendous increase of populations. Even in well-developed countries the strain and stress to obtain employment is well documented. Resident populations are also faced with migrants vying for the available jobs. But employment is not the only area under duress. Many of these migrants are in poor health and they bring with them medical problems that are not usually found in their chosen new country. Vaccines which are expected to be a prophylactic are absent, thereby exposing those not vaccinated to be infected. These same migrants need housing, and food besides clothing and the other necessities of life. That they are resented by the citizens of the host is to be expected. Here in the U.S. we witness the turmoil and infighting among the various factions of the political process to obtain the vote from these new “citizens.” With the old adage “that a poor man bargains best” it is no wonder that the party that promises, and in many cases, supplies this group with acceptance on a scale of tremendous proportion. This will have the effect of upsetting the delicate balance between the parties and all to the detriment of our settled way of life.
If this is a given then can it be any wonder that the amount of resentment and distrust of those new immigrant populations will only cause future unrest and distrust?
But this problem of unemployment goes far beyond this recent flood of immigrants. Whether here or in Europe, jobs are disappearing due to further advances in the mechanization of production. Pure and simple, machines rarely call in sick, they require no special formulation of working hours verses union or legal restraints. In short, they are cheaper than people for production.
Also, there are other considerations that are in play and I am referring to the transferring of many services and production to those countries with lower costs of production. Service in the areas of assistance by telephone will bring a voice from faraway to assist you. This is not the fault of that country nor wholly of the owners of the corporation that employs them. It is a survival function in this day and age. We are living longer and the increased population, as a result, produces more offspring further stressing all types of resources. We have not yet touched on the subject of education. With the diminishing number of employment opportunities education is now in many cases not the requirement for gainful employment that it once was. However, these same immigrant groups demand and expect to be educated by the host country as well. When this is supplied by those governments the resident population becomes upset.
As in the past, these new groups tend to gather in a community by themselves. We are witness to the friction that results when customs and religion clash with other cultures and religions.
The America of the founding fathers has wandered far afield from the original design. The basic freedoms the population originally enjoyed have been pirated by special interest groups more concerned with their own agenda rather than what is good for the country as a whole. It is this perversion of the concept that is opposed here. Forces, groups and ideological agendas are competing for supremacy. Some of the methods used can be considered as criminal in that they are especially designed to subvert the culture of the host country and to replace it with unmanageable pieces that can destroy the underlying foundation of what we are as a nation. All citizens of this country are affected, and it is with the intent of this work to bring together all representatives of the various entities that are the citizenry of the United States national culture. One which embraces all with the only qualifier being that one is a citizen and desires to sit at the table with fellow citizens.
For several decades Americans have struggled to redefine who they are. The various verbal gymnastics to create and identify through hyphenation has still fallen drastically short of its goal. The object of including everyone has given rise to such terms as multiculturalism, political correctness and hate crimes. America seems to have misplaced its roots. Today, the average teenager no longer knows what it is to be an American. Prior to the mid 1960s most Americans identified themselves through the concept of religion, fair play, sportsmanship, ethics, morals and freedoms expressed in the U.S. Constitution.
We can take a page from the past: In Europe, as in the U.S. , we find it is immigration that causes the problem. We may look to ancient Rome for guidance here. The Romans were displaced by freed slaves, pagan cults and others not committed to the Roman way of life.
Freed slaves were “Roman” in name only. Although they dressed as Romans they did not fully grasp the concept of what it meant to be Roman. Rather, they carried the old slave ideals of conduct into their behavior as new citizens. In outward appearance, they imitated Romans, but they lacked the inner disposition to carry on the traditions of Rome. The country as a nation no longer had a commonality of purpose.
Today in the U.S., immigration numbers are rising. The new immigrants, however, are arriving in such vast numbers in such a short period of time, that the United States is finding itself in the same situation as ancient Rome. It is similar in this respect. While some of the new immigrants adopt the dress of the United States, they have not yet grasped the concept of what the older Americans consider what it is to be an “American.” What may be at work here is de-individuating, a process wherein the individual is required to sacrifice individuality in the interest of the collective. American culture praises the individual rather than the collective group. Is the culture of minorities at fault for the failure of minorities to be better integrated into the major fabric of American society? We welcome all new immigrants to embrace this culture of ours and to sit at our table of benefits.
As Americans we are in danger of losing our soul and any replacement will be lesser in value.
Joseph L. Kibitlewski, PhD.
Cape Coral