people will only use this as a base to carryrnon further attacks, since there is hardlyrna monument or even a street name inrnthe state that is not imbued with Southernrnhistory.rnThe conflict in South Carolina, inrnfact, comes down to a conflict betweenrnthe establishment and the people. As alwaysrnand everywhere, the RepublicanrnParty ends up carrying water for its opponentsrnand betrasing its constituents. Asrnalways, the establishment seeks to putrnover whatever “respectable opinion” hasrndecided, no matter what the votersrnthink. That is the only real political confrontationrnin America today.rnBut it seems entirelv possible that thernestablishment, this time, will lose. Therncommon term being applied to the governor’srnaction is “betrayal.” Nobody expectsrnmuch of politicians these days, andrnthe electorate will overlook much, but arn”betrayal” is a serious thing that will bernremembered and punished.rnhi this case, the establishment not onlyrnseeks to thwart the will of the people.rnIt is also in a relentless pursuit of mediocrityrnand sameness. Columbia, SouthrnCarolina, must become indistinguishablernfrom Columbus, Ohio, which is onlyrna small and early step on the road tornthe New Worid Order.rn—Clyde WilsonrnT H E MEXICAN-AMERICAN borderrnis under siege, and the latest attackrnhas come from the Mexican government,rnhi December, the Mexican Senaternunanimously approved a constitutionalrnamendment which allowsrnMexicans to become United States citizensrnwithout losing their Mexican citizenship.rnA few days later, the MexicanrnCongress approved the same amendment,rn405-1. This was Mexico’s secondrnmajor constitutional amendment inrnthree months. The first, passed inrnSeptember, allows Mexicans living in thernUnited States to cast absentee ballots inrnMexican elections. Taken together, therntwo amendments allow American citizensrnof Mexican origin to vote in bothrncountries.rnMcxican-Amencans have been bluntrnabout the purpose of the constitutionalrnrevisions. “We hnally won!” Jose Chapa,rna retired radio announcer from Chicagornwho for years has pressured Mexico tornadopt a dual-citizenship amendment,rntold the New York Times. “Now we’rernasking our people to become Americanrncitizens because that’s the only way werncan defend our interests here.” Mexicanrnofficials have been e’en less circumspect.rnThe Times reports that “The Governmentrnof President Ernesto Zedillornhopes that [Mexican-Americans] willrnbecome an influential ethnic lobby,”rnwhile NPR’s “All Things Considered”rnstated that Mexican officials believe thatrnCalifornia’s Proposition 187, which prohibitedrnillegal aliens from receiving manvrnpublic services, could have been defeatedrnif the citizenship amendment hadrnbeen in place.rnhi the past, immigrants—contrary tornthe “Melting Pot” myth—often retainedrnmuch of their cultural heritage, includingrntheir native language, foods, and religiousrnpractices, and lived in fairly insular,rnunassimilated communities. Some—rnthe Irish spring to mind—even enjoyedrndual citizenship. But the Mexican government’srnaction portends a new era inrnimmigration. Mexico revised her constitutionrnwith the express intent of increasingrnher influence over American policy.rnThe Mexican government clearly believesrnthat Mexican immigrants who becomernAmerican citizens will retain notrnonly their culture and language but theirrnloyalty to the Mexican state. If SeiiorrnChapa’s statement is an’ indication, therngamble is likeh to pav off.rnShould other countries follow suit, thernUnited States could become the firstrncountry whose democraticallv electedrnpoliticians are placed in office by the citizensrnof other countries. Of course, therncampaign finance scandals of the pastrnelection could be avoided. The Indonesiansrncould keep their money, and simplyrnship their surplus population to the UnitedrnStates. While in the past, AmericanrnPresidents have tended to take few foreignrntrips during an election year, werncould expect to see them flying off tornMexico City, Beijing, and other exoticrnlocales, seeking the endorsements of foreignrnleaders who will double as ethnicrnwardheelers.rnBut in the meantime, in its continuingrneffort to destro}’ what remains of the border,rnthe Mexican government can countrnon its economic allies to the north. A keyrnprovision of NAFTA requires that Mexicanrntruckers be given unlimited access tornthe interior of the United States. ThernClinton administration, bowing to pressurernfrom the Teamsters Union and environmentalrngroups, has dragged its feet,rninstead restricting Mexican trucks to arncommercial zone within 40 miles of thernborder. But now Covernor George W.rnBush of Texas, whose state stands to gainrneconomically from the border’s destruction,rnis urging the administration to implementrnthe free-access provision. InrnAmerican politics, economic interest alwaysrntrumps concern for sovereignty.rnBush has been joined by GovernorrnPete Wilson of California. To savernCalifornia money, he led the fight forrnProposition 187; now, to stimulaternCalifornia’s economy, he’ll fight to openrnthe border, letting nothing stand in thernway. More than anything else, it wasrnWilson’s economic blinkers that stymiedrnhis presidential aspirations.rnAs the border rapidly erodes, Americanrngreed, combined with Third Worldrnimperialism, may yet make us—in EugenernMcCarthy’s phrase—a “colony ofrnthe world.” Or perhaps, just the iiortliernmostrnstate of Mexico.rn—Scott P. RichertrnL E O N T O D D is the bravest man inrnMilwaukee. While Afrocentric “education”rnhas always had its white conservativerncritics, Todd is perhaps the first blackrnschool official to seek to cut the explicitlyrnAfrocentric content from his district’srncurriculum. A member of the MilwaukeernSchool Board, Todd believes thatrnblack children would best be served notrnby efforts to boost their “self-esteem” orrnan}’ other therapeutic silliness, but by rigorousrneducation that would preparernthem for the world outside. Toddrnlearned the price of being an “Oreo”rnwhen his house was firebombed in December.rnDespite insinuations that Todd is anrnagent of the white establishment, itrnseems that he learned by accident aboutrnthe content of the curriculum at Milwaukee’srntwo black “imniersion” schools,rnthe Martin Luther King Jr. ElementaryrnSchool and the Malcolm X Academy. Inrnthe course of a financial audit of theserntwo institutions last fall, he stumbled onrnsome of the materials assigned to 1,100rnchildren in social studies and other classes.rnThis literature contained what Toddrnlater described as “racist pseudo-science”rnthat “mythologizes and falsifiesrnthe past and provides inaccurate informationrnabout the treatment of blacks inrnthe ancient Mediterranean world.”rnTodd was referring to the Portland BaselinernP]ssays, a set of papers which werernoriginally coiiimissioncd for use in thernPortland, Oregon, public schools andrn6/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn