Mexifornia & Multiculturalism

Mexifornia is a book by Victor Davis Hanson, a military history professor, about illegal immigration in California, published around a decade ago. Nevertheless, the immigration problem is even more relevant today, especially after immigration become a hot issue that reduce votes for Mitt Romney.

This book is about something even bigger: the validity of multiculturalism, the ideology which states that every culture is equal. This book argues that is not the case.

The Problems

According to common sense, Mexicans should adapt to American culture once they were in California. According to multiculturalism, that common sense is racist. California has to adapt to the Mexican culture too since both culture are equals. 

So, because of multiculturalism, the illegal immigrants children have to be taught both English and Spanish. They master neither of them. 

Because of multiculturalism, "cultural studies" popped out in Californian universities. They basically teach that Mexico is a victim of American imperialism, that white people are just blood-sucking imperialist, that current Mexican culture is equal with American culture.

So, is multiculturalism can solve the immigration problem? Hanson brought several important pointsregarding illegal immigration problems:

1) Most of the Mexican immigrants are not even "Hispanics." They are brown-colored Indians. (p. 42.)

2) Oh, no matter how rich those Indians are, they are still pariahs in Mexico because of their darker skin color. They enter America not really to get rich, but to get even. (p. 58.) 

3) Legal US Citizens from other states pay more than twice what illegal immigrants pay for their education. (pp. 79 - 80)

4) If California accommodates Mexican  culture, wouldn't it means it turns itself into Mexico? Changing California society into the society those immigrants escaped from doesn't sound helpful to them. (p. 92.)

5) Who are the victims of the illegal-aliens criminals? Most likely they are another illegal-aliens. (p. 125.)

Those problems are totally ignored by multiculturalism. 

The reason for that willful ignorance is the crux of the problem: multiculturalism itself is antithetical to the reality that a culture can be superior to others. In this case, American culture is better than the current culture of Mexico. Just pick ANY indicator. GDP, GDP growth, Human Development Index, Corruption Index, crime rate, etc.. All of them pointed out that Mexico is a far worse place to live. No wonder so many Mexicans tries to escape to USA! And no, this is not about geography. Baja and Florida Peninsula is very similar, but the former is a wasteland, while the latter is a multiracial settlement. (p. 94.) 

But multiculturalists will deny this. They actually will accuse anyone who say things like this as "racist." Excuse me, but some culture IS inherently racist. Just asks those Indians who are treated like pariahs. American culture who actually say "your status is decided by your money" can be said as "materialistic" or "shallow" or many other things, but NOT racist. It is your money that matters, not your skin color. Oh yeah, by the way, giving favorable access and discounts to high-level education BASED ON YOUR RACE sounds like the very definition of racism. Now, who are the racists again?

You got the point, the problems created by illegal immigration WILL NEVER be solved by multiculturalism. Heck, multiculturalism DEFINITELY will exacerbate them!

The Solutions

So what is the solution? Hanson offered 3 options:

A) Continue the open borders, but this time with total cultural assimilation

-> People can still get the cheap labor.

-> In 50 years, race will be irrelevant.

-> But the law will still be contradicted. An unforced law undermines the whole legal system.

B) Fortify the border to shut down illegal immigration. Or at least minimize it.

-> The end the cheap labors -> market value of every legal worker would increase.

-> No more unenforced immigration law.

-> Solve the problem in 20 - 30 years.

C) Option #A & #B at the same time.

-> Wage for every legal worker would increase even faster.

-> No more unenforced immigration law.

-> Solve the problem immediately!

Then there is of course the 4th possibility ...

D) Continue the multiculturalism education

-> Education quality will be reduced.

-> Crime will soar.

-> California become Mexifornia, and people will start moving out, just like they move out from Mexico.

Will USA avoid option #D? Maybe. Maybe not. We are talking about American politics here, who already become the butt of the political joke around the world.

Let me close this with the most important point in this book, from page 135:

"But that subjugation of race to culture is forever a fragile state, not a natural condition. Each day it erodes if not actively maintained. Race, chauvinism, ethnicity creep hourly back into social life if not battled by citizens of strength and vision. A few malicious people can undo the work of centuries."