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Summary
There is surprising controversy about wanting only legal immigrants, and then only those who want to assimilate into our culture. I see both as non-negotiable, but many do not. Some even want the opposite. I want to see tightly secured borders, a generous allowance for both the immigrants we want and those who need to be here for reasons of either economic or political persecution. And, yes, a final, post having well-secured borders amnesty for the millions of illegals already here.
I am an ardent fan of the historically-successful American melting pot. For the same reasons, I am not a fan of an American salad bowl.
For the next 10 minutes, we will talk about who we think we are, who we think we should be, and what it is that immigrants need to assimilate into.
Continuing
I started the high tech electronics portion of my career in Silicon Valley in the early 80s. An emerging press relations (PR) firm, Regis McKenna, discovered, to their surprise, that they could not deliver the needed cohesive PR message for their client firms. Why? The client firms did not have a cohesive message to deliver in the first place. The CEO, executives, and employees had varying views on what their company was all about. Before Regis and his team could explain to the world who their client was, what it stood for and why it mattered and to whom, the company had to sort that message out before it could be delivered. In short order, Regis McKenna added a strategic consulting firm to the front end of its PR arm. Summary: Regis and his staff needed to help their clients decide who they were before that message could be intelligently announced to the world.
In exactly the same way, we, we as Ameircans, must decide who we are, what we are proud of and what we stand for as a culture, before we can invite other people to join us. And before we can proudly tell others why being part of our culture will be a plus–a huge plus–for them. N.B. I said “people” here, not just immigrants. Some of us, and some of our neighbors, need to be reminded of who we are as a people, and what we stand for as a culture.
Let’s pause for some clarifications here. I am a supporter of people being bilingual, not countries. When a person has an understanding of more than one language, he is broadened in his thinking. She has insights into other cultures and ways of thinking than can come only from understanding linguistic nuances. When countries are multilingual, it tears them apart. I am also a fan of countries being multi-ethnic, but not multicultural. Bringing different ethnicities together in one culture is like adding alloys to iron to make steel. Bringing different cultures together trying to make a successful country is like stirring rocks in the attempt to get them to blend.
American culture was first codified in its founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The Founders put in writing that we the people had unalienable rights, rights that came from our creator, not the state. The state could neither grant nor deny these rights; rights including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. For the first time in history, the individual was elevated higher than the state. In a series of astonishingly bold documents and announcements, an unknown group of men and women from an equally unknown backwater British colony, declared that the divine rights imbued in man by his creator completely replaced the false notion of the divine right of kings. What began with the Magna Carta in 1215 was now complete. As long as they were not hanged as traitors for their beliefs.
Today’s Key Point: We are the highly fortunate inheritors of the revolution of 1776. We are here to build on that legacy, not to dismantle it. As a country, with heroic ups and tragic downs, America has indeed been building on that legacy for almost 250 years. Today, America, the world’s oldest democracy, is the most prosperous and freest country in the world. The United States was based on principles that were so far ahead of their time as to be completely unheard of in the latter part of the 18th Century. Even knowing that those principles could not have all been acted upon immediately lest the new nation be stillborn, the Founders put those principles on paper and committed themselves and the nascent nation to following them. Dr. Martin Luther King called those principles a “promissory note.” I have called them a statement of direction in this podcast series. Our job, our purpose, is to continue to full that promise, to keep going in the same direction. Together. And require that all immigrants join us in that promise, that direction. And all of us, recent immigrants, immigrants from generations ago and future immigrants, will be all the stronger and better for it.
BTW, in case you missed it, .
Segueing from the specifics of today’s topic to overall principles, the core, driving principles at Revolution 2.0, are:
And do it all in love; without love, these are empty gestures, destined to go nowhere and mean nothing.
If we apply those two core principles, personal responsibility and brother’s keepers, simultaneously, never only one or the other, we will always be on the right path. Depending upon what we face, one principle or the other may appropriately be given more emphasis, but they are always acted upon together.
The Founders, Revolution 1.0, were declared traitors by the British Crown, and their lives were forfeit if caught. We risk very little by stepping up and participating in Revolution 2.0™. In fact, we risk our futures if we don’t. I am inviting you, recruiting you, to join Revolution 2.0™ today. Join with me in using what we know how to do–what we know we must do–to everyone’s advantage. Let’s practice thinking well of others as we seek common goals, research the facts that apply to those goals, and use non agenda-based reasoning to achieve those goals together. Practice personal responsibility and be your brother’s keeper.
Let’s continue to build on the revolutionary vision that we inherited. Read the blog, listen to the podcast, subscribe, recruit, act. Here’s what I mean by “acting.”
Revolution 1.0 in 1776 was built by people talking to other people, agreeing and disagreeing, but always finding ways to stay united and going forward. Revolution 2.0 will be built the same way.
Join me. Join the others. Think about what we are talking about and share these thoughts and principles with others. Subscribe, encourage others to subscribe. Act. Let’s grow this together.
And visit the store. Fun stuff, including hats, mugs and t-shirts. Recommend other items that you’d like to see.
Links and References
Love Letter to America (EP. 102)
Contact
As we get ready to wrap up, please do respond in the blog with comments or questions about this podcast or anything that comes to mind, or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And you can subscribe to the podcast on your favorite device through Apple Podcasts, Google, or Stitcher.
Now it is time for our usual parting thought. It is not enough to be informed. It is not enough to be a well informed voter. We need to act. And if we, you and I, don’t do something, then the others who are doing something, will continue to run the show.
Know your stuff, then act on it. Knowing your stuff without acting is empty; acting without knowing is dangerous.
Will Luden, writing to you from my home office at 7,200’ in Colorado Springs.
