As PBC and other NRO folks are noting, David Cameron’s speech last Saturday debunking multiculturalism is a welcome recognition that countries with large immigrant populations, including the United States, must focus on assimilating them. This doesn’t mean that we must all eat the same foods and listen to the same music, but there are certain things we must share — like a common language with which we can communicate with one another and a pledge not to blow one another up — in order to be a cohesive nation. And do you have a list of those certain things, you may ask? Well, yes, I do, and thanks for asking, since it gives me an excuse to reiterate my top-ten list of what we should demand from those who want to become Americans (and those who are already Americans, for that matter).
The list was first published in an NRO column in 2000, and it is fleshed out in more recent congressional testimony here: (1) Don’t disparage anyone else’s race or ethnicity. (2) Respect women. (3) Learn to speak English. (4) Be polite. (5) Don’t break the law. (6) Don’t have children out of wedlock. (7) Don’t demand anything because of your race, ethnicity, or sex. (8) Don’t view working and studying hard as “acting white.” (9) Don’t hold historical grudges. (10) Be proud of being an American.