Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

Now to the biggest issue about immigrants that now refuse to assimilate into the American culture and that is the simple fact that many refuse to become citizens of this country.  By living permanently in a host country without becoming a citizen is the ultimate lack of assimilation.  The immigrant is in turn refusing to denounce the citizenship of their country of origin and become a citizen of the current country.  Now many countries allow for a dual citizenship, but that would lead to a lack of nationalism that is so important in the current international marketplace.  Nationalism is important when there are international companies in the marketplace because that drives synergy in the workplace.  

An international company could have offices all around the world with many different cultures in each office, with a sense of nationalism everyone feels as though they bring something important to the table.  There is a pride in one’s country and a feeling that they can help make the company as a whole successful.  Please do not confuse nationalism with a close minded view of the other cultures and nations around the world.  With this nationalism there must be an open minded embrace of diversity as well.  But having a pride in ones country produces the kind of competition that creates innovation, and that innovation today is on a worldwide scale.  Nationalism, however, cannot be achieved unless immigrants assimilate to the point of fully embracing their new country.

By becoming a citizen of their new country an immigrant sends a message to the host countries current resident that they are willing to join the new country fully.  It sends a message that they are willing to abide by the laws of the host country as they are written, not force the host country to change their laws to accommodate the immigrant.  Becoming a citizen creates a feeling of unity between the immigrant and the other residents of the host country, a unity that will allow compromise between the different cultures and a blending of those cultures. Neither culture is better than the other culture when there are shared values and beliefs.  Even if the only shared value between the cultures is the fact that everyone is a citizen of this country.  

Here in America we have shifted our beliefs from a melting pot mentality to that of a tossed salad.  Meaning that we do not need to blend our cultures together but cling to our original nationality.  The arguments for this shift are discrimination and ethnic pride.  In reality we are perpetuation discrimination by not blending together and actually separating us from our other fellow Americans.  Ethnic pride can be felt just as easily when we melt together because that is something that no one can take away from an individual.  America must go back to a melting pot mentality in order to embrace our diversity and help our culture grow.  Assimilation is the key to that melting pot mentality.  Immigrant assimilation is the solution to many of the social problems that we face in this country because it would bring back the unity, pride and nationalism that this country has been missing for quite some time.  It would also prove to the current residents of this country that the immigrants hold the same sense of pride in America, a belief that we can all share.     

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws. 

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

The government incurs costs when a high a percentage of the population does not speak English.  Many government forms now have to be offered in two different languages.  The cost of printing as well as the amount of inventory on hand increases when you have to have two different types of the same form.  This is one of the reasons many companies and government services are turning to the internet.  Having a separate site in another language is much cheaper than having hard copy forms.   The offices also need to staff employees that speak multiple languages.  If the Government does not cater to these individuals then they are facing litigation against them which is also very expensive.  

All of these items would be very simply solved if the Government mandated English as the official language of the United States.  That would not take away the right to speak a native language in the home simply require that English be fluently spoken by all individuals.  This would create a situation that would make it much easier to interact within our culture, on a business as well as a personal level.  

Businesses must also conform when an immigrant does not assimilate into a culture.  As a business the most important aspect is customer base.  If the business is in an area that is predominantly immigrants that speak a certain language or have different values they must conform to the population.  This is not always a bad thing; this adaptation promotes the diversity that is so important in this country.  The problem arises when they are forced to conform so much that they alienate the rest of the population.  Businesses should be able to mix the wants and needs of the immigrant population with the current population.  This mix of goods and services allows the culture as a whole to grow.  This assimilation was a very important part of our history.  

Looking back in time when immigrants would come over to start a new life in America they were forced to assimilate because the businesses and the society as a whole would not allow for anything different.  Not only did society force them to assimilate but the immigrants themselves wanted to assimilate.  They realized that they left their country of origin to become American, not Italian American or Mexican American or Japanese American, simply American.  America provided these people with opportunities that they could never encounter in their old country.  With those opportunities came the responsibility to blend in to the current culture, and with that blending create a newer American Culture.  Fast forward to the present and the immigrant’s ideals have changed.  Instead of the immigrant conforming to the current system today’s immigrant wants the system to conform to their needs.  They want all of the opportunity without any of the responsibility.  

Stay tuned for part 3 next week where we are going to talk about the greatest proof that there is a lack of assimilation in this country. 

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws. 

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

The United States of America has been since its inception a mix of many different types of people from many different countries.  This mix early on has helped shape the American culture into what it is today.  This country has a culture that took different pieces of many different cultures and blended them together into our current culture.  What is happening today, however, is a shift in that mentality; where a person’s origin culture is taking precedent over the American culture.  This shift from a melting pot mentality is evident in many ways, evident in the many languages in the market place, evident in the many different businesses that cater to specific ethnicities, and evident in the laws that pertain only to protected classes.  This is an issue that has many up in arms on both sides of the line.  Is it unfair for Americans to expect immigrants to assimilate into our culture?  

The very simple answer to the question above is absolutely not; an immigrant should be required to assimilate into the host countries culture, at least in the common places where interaction takes place.  By no means should anyone tell immigrants what to do inside their home, but while out in society a person should want to blend in to their surroundings.  In essence an immigrant that does not assimilate is further distancing themselves for the society in which they live.  This causes a need for the laws that are in place to prevent discrimination, a need for bilingual signs, and different business practices.  There is a common misconception that an immigrant that assimilates loses their own culture.  What in fact really happens is the blending of two cultures.

The first big issue facing this country dealing with the assimilation of immigrants is a language barrier.  In this country we have many immigrants right now from Mexico.  These immigrants are so great in number and so highly concentrated to certain areas that they do not need to interact with anyone that speaks a different language.  This causes the immigrant to not see a need in learning how to speak the common language of the culture, because they have basically transplanted their entire culture to another area of the world.  This fact alone causes an alienation of that group of people; they cannot interact with other groups to learn new things.  Society cannot grow because it is segmented.  According to the 2000 census there are over 21 million people in this country right now over the age of five that do not speak English very well.  That number is up from 6.6 million in 1990 that means that the amount of people that do not speak English in this country is rising at a rate of 1.44 million per year.  If the rate continues in next year’s census there would be over 35 million people in this country that do not speak English.

This language issue is much bigger than many people think; first of all there is the alienation factor that was brought up previously.  What this language barrier also causes are lost jobs for the people that currently live in this country.  Personally I have seen many job listings that have as a requirement that you must be bilingual to even apply.  That has a very direct relationship to the people that currently live in this culture.  People perhaps have a job that previously could be performed by someone that could only speak English.  Now that job interacts with more people that do not speak English and thus that person has two options.  The company has to train the current employee on the new language.  Or the company fires this individual and hires a new employee that can speak both languages.  Both of these options cost the company resources.  This is all necessary because immigrants do not want to assimilate. 

This issue is far too complex for just one blog so think of this installment as part one.

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws. 

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

I had an interesting thought this morning on my way into work and since this whole Blog is about my thoughts I thought that I would share it with the few people that read this thing every week.  I was thinking about how our future generations would remember the current generation; and what values my generation would instill in the future generation.  So here goes, we will start with how our generation will be remembered.

First and foremost our generation will be remembered for electing the first black president of the United States.  Whether you voted for him or not, that is the single item that will be most prevalent in our generation’s history.  Then of course we can look at 9-11, that has already started showing up in our history books and will be a mainstay in the rise of terrorism around the world.  With 9-11 there will be all of the political back ground and the aftermath of how the situation was handled.  The War on Terror is a bit cloudy for me right now as to how historians will present the facts and the reasons for and against that war.  Then of course we will look at the financial crisis, it seems as though every generation in the country has been plagued by an economic crisis.  There will be finger pointing as to which policies caused this crisis, as well as the men and women responsible.  

How historians remember us will be something of a mystery, however, I would like to take a minute and voice my opinion on how I would like our generation to be remembered.  There is really no way to look at the election of the first black president other then the campaign strategies that were used and the increasing use of the internet in order to secure funding.  I hope that historians look at 9-11 and point out the heroes that were lost coming to the aid of those in need and how well the country came together to fight a common enemy.  We as Americans have always been able to put aside our differences when there is a greater enemy facing our nation.  The War on Terror was something that was brand new to us as Americans; we have encountered smaller terrorist actions in the past but nothing to the scale of 9-11.  So in that matter I would like to be remembered at how quickly we fought back, how we took a stance and never faltered from that stance.  Our commander in chief stuck by his decision to go into Iraq and prevent a dictator form gathering the means that would possibly harm Americans.  When our allies refused to help we stayed the course because after all that is what Americans do, we push on no matter what the opposition.  Now to the real work we have as a generation and that is how well we prepare the future generation.

My generation is coming of age right now where many of us are starting or getting ready to start a family.  We were brought up with a mentality where the world is at our fingertips, there is nothing that we couldn’t do, no dream was ever out of reach.  We were taught that the path to those dreams hinged around higher education. We were taught, unfortunately, that the hard work was the education part and once that was completed then we would be given our dream.  So how will we raise our kids?  Will we raise them with the same mentalities?  Will we look back at some of our past generations and pull some of their ideals?  These are questions that I cannot answer for you but I will answer for myself.  I will raise my children to value hard work, not just hard work in order for an individual to get ahead but hard work that pushes towards a successful society.  Our kids must understand that if everyone strives for greatness then the entire society will benefit from that hard work.  Our children must understand the importance of history, because without an historical knowledge one is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.  Our children must understand how to take an objective stance on all issues so that they can form their own opinions.  

It is of the upmost importance to teach our kids the values that will ensure their success because their success in turn leads to the success of the society as a whole.  And please keep in mind that our kids will be the ones writing the history books that judge our own generation.  We have a direct hand in helping the future of this nation by instilling values in our future generations.  If we want to look to the future we do not even need to look outside our own homes.

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws. 

 Brushfire of Freedom

The Conservative Cowboy

I had a most unfortunate conversation this weekend; a conversation on the weekend celebrating our Independence.  This conversation took place with one of my close friends, yes I have liberal friends.  This conversation I had opened my eyes to what we are really facing in this country.  These people actually live their lives according to their beliefs, and actually believe the nonsense behind those actions.  They truly believe that there are people in this country that do not share the same opportunities as others.  They believe that where you are born, the color of your skin or your national origin all have an effect on the opportunities that you can pursue.  They feel that the government’s job according to the constitution is to provide an equal opportunity to all; in other words the government needs to help the people that do not have the opportunity to help themselves.  They feel that the Patriot Act took away more civil liberties than it protected; that the security of our Nation is not as important as providing for the people of our Nation.  They feel that it is the duty of major corporations and the rich to pay for their successes with higher taxes, for the simple reason that they feel they make too much money; that the market has unfairly valued their ideas, their products and their successes.

As I sat there trying to understand this point of view I realized one thing, and that is the simple fact that these liberals do not value personal responsibility.  Personal responsibility is something that this country is lacking and that is the reason we are in the economic crisis that we are in today; the personal responsibility of everyone in this nation from the person that is standing in line for their welfare check to the person that is signing those welfare checks.  I learned from this conversation that the liberals put no faith in human beings.  They feel that greed is what drives our economic machine, and it is the government’s job to reign in that greed with policies that cripple growth; because of course growth causes us to make too much money.

I aptly named this blog hypocrisy because that is exactly what I learned about the liberal point of view from this conversation.  These people are enacting principles that they themselves would not dream of, they want to tax the rich because they feel like they themselves are not rich enough.  If the tables were turned and these people actually had to work hard for their wealth then perhaps they would not be so quick to tax income at such a high percentage.  They say they value equality but would never implement a flat tax.  Without a flat tax they are in turn pushing for more inequalities.  The liberals feel that the government is a better avenue to spend money then the individual, because the individual is greedier then the government; the government will give our money to the people that really need help.  I don’t think that I need to explain the hypocrisy evident in that statement.

This is the mentality that we as conservatives have to understand, because if you don’t understand your opponent then you cannot properly fight that opponent.  We have our work cut out for us because we are fighting against people’s morals and ideals.  How these people came to think this way is irrelevant, what is important is how we can get them to see the reality behind the madness.  How these policies that they are pushing look good on paper but will not succeed in the real world.

On a side note I want to mention one thing.  The Government has one job and one job alone and that is to protect the sovereignty of our great nation.  

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Copyright 2009.  The published content is the sole property of the author.  Any copy, use, or redistribution of any portion of the material without the written consent of the owner is a violation of international copyright laws.