Dendahl on multiculturalism and immigration

Gov. Bill Richardson has still not agreed to debate Republican challenger John Dendahl, so here’s a column Dendahl wrote about multiculturalism and immigration, taken directly from his Web site. It was published in the Albuquerque Journal on April 7 of this year.

Put All Citizens on Same Footing
By John Dendahl

“‘Multiculturalism’ has a nice ring, no? I argue here to the contrary, that this term has been hijacked to cover an un-American trend boding nothing but ill.

“Immigration talk is all the rage these days in the U.S. Senate. Nothing’s wrong with that; the subject is long overdue on Congress’ agenda.

“It is an outrageous insult to the rule of law that something like 12 million people are illegally in our country, with every night bringing more.

“However, illegals are just part — and perhaps not even the most important part — of the immigration debate.

“Most public conversation centers on two things, security and economics. I propose that non-assimilation is a greater threat to our culture and way of life than either. Further, the implications of this subject go well beyond Americanizing new arrivals, whether legal or not.

“About the time New Mexico was becoming a state, President Theodore Roosevelt said, ‘There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. … Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. … The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities ….’

“These days, one should add ‘cultures’ and ‘religions’ to ‘nationalities.’

“Congress also has under consideration legislation known as the Akaka Bill for its sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, to enable Hawaii to create a separate government for ‘native Hawaiians.’ Since I have written fairly recently about this Balkanizing mischief, I’ll be brief here.

“Much rationale for a native Hawaiian government is derived from the so-called sovereignty of American Indian tribes. Sure, there might be a nice symmetry in creating for natives in the 50th state something like those in the other 49.

“The problem begging for correction is asymmetry in the 49. Another wrong isn’t going to make an awful situation right. Instead of the Akaka Bill, Congress should be considering the steps necessary to put all Americans, including aboriginals, on the same citizenship footing. That’s a tall order and would take decades to accomplish equitably for all. It is, however, the right direction.

“One can imagine how long it would take following enactment of the Akaka Bill— about a New York minute — for Chicano leaders in ‘Aztlan’ to demand one or more separate governments. Aztlan, by the way, is what this crowd calls Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, California, Oregon and part of Washington.

“Now, while we’re at war with radical Islam, some American Muslims are busy planning enclaves to be governed under Islamic law. We’re all about to get an eye-popping new focus on the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses of the First Amendment! See www.meforum.org/article/920.

“Teddy Roosevelt had it right. America is now under the cultural assault that he identified as ‘the one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin.’ Illegal immigration is but a small, important part.”