NewMexiKen

Samuel Huntington is full of his usual nonsense:

America’s core culture has primarily been the culture of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century settlers who founded our nation. The central elements of that culture are the Christian religion; Protestant values, including individualism, the work ethic, and moralism; the English language; British traditions of law, justice, and limits on government power; and a legacy of European art, literature, and philosophy. Out of this culture the early settlers formulated the American Creed, with its principles of liberty, equality, human rights, representative government, and private property. Subsequent generations of immigrants were assimilated into the culture of the founding settlers and modified it, but did not change it fundamentally. It was, after all, Anglo-Protestant culture, values, institutions, and the opportunities they created that attracted more immigrants to America than to all the rest of the world.

After a long discussion of his thesis, followed by a description of the problems of Mexican immigration, Huntington concludes:

The continuation of high levels of Mexican and Hispanic immigration and low rates of assimilation of these immigrants into American society and culture could eventually change America into a country of two languages, two cultures, and two peoples. This will not only transform America. It will also have deep consequences for Hispanics–who will be in America but not of the America that has existed for centuries.

Read more of Huntington’s essay.

How can one man be so narrowly focused? Ever heard of Santa Fe (1608) or New Orleans (1718) or African-Americans (1619) or American Indians? Diversity is the soul of America.

Bruce Springsteen has some words:

A nation’s artists and musicians have a particular place in its social and political life. Over the years I’ve tried to think long and hard about what it means to be American: about the distinctive identity and position we have in the world, and how that position is best carried. I’ve tried to write songs that speak to our pride and criticize our failures.

These questions are at the heart of this election: who we are, what we stand for, why we fight. Personally, for the last 25 years I have always stayed one step away from partisan politics. Instead, I have been partisan about a set of ideals: economic justice, civil rights, a humane foreign policy, freedom and a decent life for all of our citizens. This year, however, for many of us the stakes have risen too high to sit this election out.

Continue reading Springsteen’s op-ed piece from The New York Times.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Denying gay couples civil marriage violates their constitutional rights, a Washington state judge ruled today, a day after voters in Missouri approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.

“The court concludes that the exclusion of same-sex partners from civil marriage and the privileges attendant thereto is not rationally related to any legitimate or compelling state interest and is certainly not narrowly tailored toward such an interest,” Judge William L. Downing of King County Superior Court wrote.

He stayed his ruling pending review by the state Supreme Court.

Courtesy Wacky Neighbor.