Just a word of appreciation here for the series of “Broadsides” being put out by Encounter Books. I’ve just been reading Mark Krikorian’s contribution to the series, How Obama is Transforming America through Immigration. It’s a first-class summary of the title issue in 40 big-print pages. I have it in mind to buy a stack of these Broadsides and leave them lying around in diners and subway cars.
This whole business of “transforming America” strikes me as odd. It’s a big theme for leftist politicians, and always gets wild cheers. But do any large number of Americans actually want this country “transformed”?
On Radio Derb last week I noted Rep. Luis Gutierrez telling the House immigration subcommittee that through mass immigration we “transform America and make it a vital, energetic economic engine of the future.” I asked:
What’s wrong with America that it needs “transforming”? At which point did Americans ask to have their nation “transformed”? Are Americans so dissatisfied with their nation in its current state that they want it “transformed”? Where is the evidence for that? Why would leaving the U.S.A. un-transformed — just the way it is — why would that be a bad policy?
I fell in love with America at first sight when I arrived here in 1973. The energy and vigor; the widespread generosity and kindness (I couldn’t have spent Thanksgiving alone if I’d wanted to); the ease with which you could get things done; the universal patriotism — flags everywhere on the Fourth, the anthem at Yankee Stadium … I guess I’m coloring it with nostalgia to some degree, but I do remember how wonderful it all seemed — wonderful, wonderful.
Why did it need “transforming”? It was a really nice place. And why does it still need transforming?