Nations of Immigrants

Nations of Immigrants by Thomas Fleming • May 12, 2009 • Printer-friendly

The irrepressible Silvio Berlusconi is in hot water again with all left-thinking people, this time for his remarks on illegal immigrants. After praising Libya for taking back 500 illegals from Italy, the Italian PM observed, “The Left’s idea is of a multi-ethnic Italy . . . That is not our idea, ours is to welcome only those who meet the conditions for political asylum.” Naturally, the Secretary of the Italian Bishops Conference was outraged and praised multi-culturalism as an Italian value.

In France, the government is under fire for trying to clear out illegal immigrants who have swarmed into Calais in order to cross to the UK. Traffic jams have been caused by the hundreds of illegals swarming onto highways and trying to climb onto trucks headed for Britain. The French immigration minister–imagine, they have such a post!–is promising to use the army. Meanwhile Socialists in the French Parliament are trying to immend [sic] a law that makes it a crime to aid and abet illegal immigrants.

In Greece, about 500 illegal immigrants have occupied a building. When police refused to dislodge them, members of an anti-immigrant group known as the Golden Dawn attacked the building, and a dozen police officers were injured in the clash. Naturally, the fault lies with the right-wing extremists and not with the illegals–much less with the Greek police, who have a distinguished record for doing nothing to stop the violence perpetrated by illegals or by the leftists who have been systematically burning down conservative bookstores and publishing houses.

Here in America, there is no story. The far-left Obama administration welcomes illegal immigrants and will nurture them as a voting block and state-building constituency, while the center-left opposition can talk all day about immigration reform without cracking down on anyone but Tom Tancredo, Pat Buchanan, and any Republican unwise enough to love his country.

Meanwhile, the official leaders of the anti-immigration movement and immigration reform think tanks–you know the names–accomplish exactly nothing. Couching their arguments in strictly economic and utilitarian terms, they embrace the same universalist and materialist ethic of the Left. What is really important, you see, is not the national origin or cultural and religious traditions of immigrants, only their potential earning power and the future tax revenues to be squeezed out of them.

You cannot win if you will not fight. At least Italians love their country enough to have voted the impossible Berlusconi back into power, largely on the strength of his promise to do something about immigration. Just before the most recent election, a leftist taxi driver in Rome told me Berlusconi would win, unless the Left wised up about immigration. But it is the very essence of Leftism to destroy all forms of the natural order, the family, the community, the province, and the nation. Here in America, it does not matter what the Republicans say or propose, because in their hearts they believe the Left is right. The only difference is that the phony Right puts its faith in the Global Market instead of the Global Government. It is a distinction, increasingly, without a difference.

Some years ago, when I was foolish enough to tell the truth that we were losing or had lost the immigration battle, I was attacked by many former allies and even by some friends. At that time, I said we would continue to fight the good fight, but not under the illusion that we could win it. The so-called nationalists, in attacking Chronicles, displayed the historical memory so typical of American youth. They forgot to mention that Chronicles had been fighting this battle since the mid-80’s and that it was our issue, “A Nation of Immigrants,” that gave our cynical opportunist colleague, Richard Neuhaus, a weapon he could give to the Podhoretzes to put us out of business. Even today I find it hard to believe that any rational person could believe the lies they told at that time.

Poor Richard went to his grave, still angry that with so few resources at our disposal we had defeated him and his horde of anti-Christian allies. Apparently he commemorated his much deserved firing with an annual commiseration dinner. Many people have asked me when I am going to respond the lies his friends are still telling, and I can only respond: It hardly matters. Not one American in a hundred is interested in the truth, and the percentage drops dramatically among self-described conservatives.

We intend to go on fighting this fight, not because we think we can defeat either wing of the Left but because it is one way of waking people up to the profound truth that man is neither a social insect nor a rogue elephant. We are creatures whose lives depend on the traditions and communities that form our character–the families that rear us, the language we speak, the books we read, the religion we practice. The government can and will raise our taxes, fight unjustifiable wars of aggression, and flood the country with immigrants, but it cannot, without our complicity, rob us of our identity and historical memory.

Since nothing can be done on the national level to save this country from its people and the leaders they elect, the best you can do is to mind your own business in some place that has not yet been overrun. Taking to the streets, like the members of the Golden Dawn, will not meet with the feeble response of the Greek police. Our President may be a sissy, but he has hired some mean “women” to work for him. Do not through your life away on futile causes or waste time hating people you will never know.

If some combination of passive obedience and good living is not a solution that can satisfy you, you can always move to Italy or to the Greek countryside, which is relatively free of immigrants and the crimes they commit. My Greek friends are horrified by what has happened to Athens, but Athens is no Los Angeles or Chicago, and the rest of Greece is underpopulated and backward-looking. Life can be good if you forget about changing the world and concentrate on brightening the corner where you are.