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Immigration
See other Immigration Articles

Title: The Coming Great Divide in American Political Culture
Source: AMERICAN THINKER
URL Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/2007 ... oming_great_divide_in_ame.html
Published: May 15, 2007
Author: J.R. Dunn
Post Date: 2007-05-15 04:26:13 by noone222
Keywords: None
Views: 473
Comments: 47

Michael Barone's occasional forays into sociology are always a pleasure to come across. Like the rest of his work, they are concise, well-researched, original, and always marked by clarity. Barone goes where the data takes him, and never seems to have an agenda or an ideological ax to grind.

All this is true of his latest such piece, "The Realignment of America" which appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, May 8. While going through recent census estimates, Barone discovered a pattern until now overlooked: the old coastal cities, or "Coastal Megalopolises" are steadily becoming dominated by immigrants, while at the same time native Americans are repopulating the thriving heartland cities.

Since 2000, Barone tells us, New York City has seen "a domestic outflow of 8% and an immigrant inflow of 6%". Boston, LA, Washington, and San Diego show similar turnovers. The total outflow of native-born Americans from these cities amounts to 650,000 a year.

At the same time, cities such as Orlando, Charlotte, Phoenix, and Tampa have had dramatic leaps in native-born population, in all cases exceeding 10%, and in that of Las Vegas approaching 20%. So while the coastal cities remain static in population numbers despite the turnover, interior cities are booming.

What does this mean for our political culture? Barone touches on the question, noting that "The economic divide in New York and Los Angeles is starting to look like the economic divide in Mexico City and São Paulo", but doesn't go much further. But if the process continues, the implications will be profound.

If Barone is correct - and there's no reason to believe he isn't - then we're headed for an even more serious social schism between the heartland and the coastal metropolises. The heartland (along with smaller cities and towns on the coasts) will be comprised of melting-pot Americans, the coastal cities a bewildering melange of immigrants from all points of the compass, topped with an exceedingly thin layer of ultra-wealthy natives.

Miami, as it has been for the past thirty years, can serve as an example, with these differences: the Cubans represented a single homogeneous group; they had very good reasons - hatred of Fidelista communism above all - to appreciate American society; and they already understood American culture. This will not necessarily be the case with the new arrivals. Above all, PC and multiculturalism have removed all reason for immigrants to adapt to their new country.

With no particular pressure to fit in, the new immigrants will cling to their traditions, worldviews, and customs, many conflicting with ours and with those of other immigrant groups. NYC's asinine decision to establish a madrassah in Brooklyn is only the opening wedge - now all hundred-odd ethnicities residing in New York will demand the same treatment, and they will get it. The result will be Babel.

So thank the Archangels you're not living in NYC. But there are implications that may affect us all. Many of these people will have emigrated from failed polities of one type or another. Too many of the countries of Africa and Asia and Latin America, are operating in something resembling free fall, to put it kindly. Government is whoever has the most guns; civil society goes its own way with little reference to governmental activity; whatever political entanglements that can't be avoided are dealt with in the most primitive manner conceivable, through processes characterized by kinship and tribal relations, bribery, and paternalism. It's those conditions many people were fleeing when they came to the United States.

But it's those same conditions that, even with the best will in the world, they are going to bring with them. People cannot shed elements of their culture the same way they may change the dishdash for slacks and shirt. They are going to look for the Big Man. They are going to wonder whom to bribe, and how much. They are going to gravitate toward whoever operates in the manner closest to their country, region, or tribe. They will, without the least intending to, recreate in the U.S. the same situation they were fleeing from back home. With the added complication that dozens of other ethnicities will also be trying to grab the political levers to ensure that things are done their way, all at once.

It's difficult to see how this is particularly congruent with American democracy as we understand it today. Nor that there is any way to make it compatible with any form of democratic practice. So something will have to give. And it seems likely that what will give will be the members of America's sole native criminal class, the politicians.

What politician could resist such an opportunity? Masses of helpless, ignorant, and needy people requiring guidance, requiring a protector, requiring a leader. We've seen this before. Consider how the black vote has been manipulated by Democratic politicians since the days of the New Deal. Multiply that by a few dozen ethnicities, and the magnitude of the problem becomes manifest. (What's that? New immigrants can't vote? Do you really think so?)

But let's not be unfair to Democrats. If you think the GOP would hesitate a minute to leap into the same role, your introduction to practical politics remains before you. All the same, the Democrats are the prime suspects here, seeing how they control the surviving political machines in cities up and down the Eastern seaboard. Many of these machines have been in operation since the last big immigration wave early in the 20th century. Adapting them to the new conditions will simply be a matter of integrating the new arrivals into the places once held by Italians and Irishmen.

But there's another factor at work as well - even as the pols are gathering in the new flock, the new flock will be exerting pressure on them to conform more to the style that they're used to. How are they going to resist becoming something along the lines of a tribal chieftain? Many of them think of themselves in similar terms in any case. And with that shift will come a level of corruption that will make New Jersey or Louisiana look like the Palace of the Just. If you think that New York resembles a third-world country now... you ain't seen nothing yet.

At the same time, we'll have a native-born American population that has reconnected with its roots, and very likely, after years of dealing with terrorism, undergone a resurgence of patriotism, much as Great Britain did in the course of the lengthy Napoleonic Wars. (And, as Barone points out, will have grown more Republican, too.) This will represent quite a contrast to the teeming multilingual coasts, and create inevitable and unavoidable grounds for conflict.

We can dismiss any thoughts of civil war. Conflicts in advanced societies aren't settled that way, and a situation in which isolated urban areas are opposed to the country at large doesn't lend itself to such an outcome. But there are plenty of other ugly possibilities. (And some benefits as well - the coastal cities, which wield far too much influence today, will find their sway over the rest of the country dwindling, no doubt a good thing.) Most of the downside factors will involve native politicians released from any responsibility to the population of the country as a whole, a nightmare in and of itself. Corruption will grow to proportions not easy to imagine today, particularly as it takes on an international dimension.

Mayors, representatives, possibly even governors and senators, will be running their own sub rosa foreign policies in order to fulfill the wishes of their foreign-born constituencies. Foreign groups and organizations of all types -- religious, political, social, and criminal -- having no current connection to American society will establish strong beachheads by manipulating and playing off native politicians. This will create new challenges for law enforcement, particularly as it shades into foreign intelligence. Questions of national security will begin to take in the policies of the administration the next town over.

Potential solutions are less than obvious. Education of new immigrants as to what the American system is and how it works would appear to be the key, but who would handle that? With the educational system as it exists, enraptured with the doctrines of multiculturalism, the cure would be worse than the disease.

It may in the end merely be a matter of muddling through, of using law enforcement and social pressure to hold the fort while the new immigrant masses ever so slowly adapt themselves to this country (or, rather, their children and grandchildren do). It doesn't seem like much, but it may be the best we can hope for.

Of course, we could always return to a sane immigration policy. I have yet to hear what would be wrong with that.

J.R. Dunn is contributing editor of American Thinker.


Poster Comment:

Government is whoever has the most guns;

Universal Truth.

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#7. To: IndieTX (#4)

We can dismiss any thoughts of civil war. Conflicts in advanced societies aren't settled that way, and a situation in which isolated urban areas are opposed to the country at large doesn't lend itself to such an outcome. But there are plenty of other ugly possibilities. (And some benefits as well - the coastal cities, which wield far too much influence today, will find their sway over the rest of the country dwindling, no doubt a good thing.) Most of the downside factors will involve native politicians released from any responsibility to the population of the country as a whole, a nightmare in and of itself. Corruption will grow to proportions not easy to imagine today, particularly as it takes on an international dimension.

Mayors, representatives, possibly even governors and senators, will be running their own sub rosa foreign policies in order to fulfill the wishes of their foreign-born constituencies. Foreign groups and organizations of all types -- religious, political, social, and criminal -- having no current connection to American society will establish strong beachheads by manipulating and playing off native politicians. This will create new challenges for law enforcement, particularly as it shades into foreign intelligence. Questions of national security will begin to take in the policies of the administration the next town over.

what a friggin' nightmare. our poor children.

christine  posted on  2007-05-15   10:37:55 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: christine, jethro tull, btp holdings, WATER THE TREE (#7)
(Edited)

OUR POOR CHILDREN

don't think they aren't what is first in my mind. The PoliticoWhore CorporoFascist bastards that caused and perpetuated this demise...the ones still living that is...will not get a free ride.. When we go down, they go down. Make sure of it! And hopefully some people someplace in the future will learn from our self-destructive history....and that the Founders were right all along. We failed to water the tree because we were cowards...afraid of the very bastards that were supposed to work for us...and The Constitution. Instead, robed tyrants and their lawyer brethren raped it while we watched.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

IndieTX  posted on  2007-05-15   10:46:26 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: christine (#7)

our poor children

Teach your children well ...

Leave em plenty of guns and ammo .... they'll need it !

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   11:00:38 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: noone222 (#0)

Since 2000, Barone tells us, New York City has seen "a domestic outflow of 8% and an immigrant inflow of 6%". Boston, LA, Washington, and San Diego show similar turnovers. The total outflow of native-born Americans from these cities amounts to 650,000 a year.

The traffic in San Diego make living there impossible now. It was once a sleepy Navy town with a low cost of living, easy to get around; a refuge from L.A.

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." ~George Washington

robin  posted on  2007-05-15   11:01:40 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: christine (#6)

the death of a nation...

Came first.

Dying nations are always plagued by more vigorous foreigners.

The foreign plague that befell China was both inevitable and necessary for China's renewal. Rotten wood cannot be carved. Let the termites eat it.

In this sense, I welcome the little buggers.

history | grep grep

Tauzero  posted on  2007-05-15   11:07:48 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: robin (#10)

I lived there(San Diego) from 1978 until 1996 ... in 1978 I could make my 15 mile drive to work in about 15 minutes and people there still spoke english.

In 1996 I had a 60 mile drive to work that often took in excess of 2 hours "each way" !

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   11:15:43 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: christine (#7)

our poor children

That they are few compared to those of the invading pests is not a coincidence.

That the most sanctimonious white leftists have the fewest children is also not a coincidence.

history | grep grep

Tauzero  posted on  2007-05-15   11:23:02 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#14. To: noone222 (#3)

All of the Major Metropolitan cess pools are drowning under the weight of entitlements, welfare, politicians, crime, gangs, illegals, and drugs.

and every single one of them produces more revenue than it spends, the excess going to feed all of the welfare class in the "heartland".

What pure drivel. The Irish are coming! The Italians are coming! Run for your lives!

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   11:25:20 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Tauzero (#11)

In this sense, I welcome the little buggers.

yep, they'll renew our nation and make it a better place for our kids.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   11:28:05 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: bluedogtxn (#15)

yep, they'll renew our nation and make it a better place for our kids.

Why don't ya speed the process and move to Tijuana.

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   11:29:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#17. To: bluedogtxn, noone222 (#14)

and every single one of them produces more revenue than it spends, the excess going to feed all of the welfare class in the "heartland".

California produces a lot of wealth for America, because it has money makers like Intel and Apple. But the flood of illegal aliens do not produce children qualified to work and produce wealth. The dollar will collapse soon and permanently cut wages in half nationwide. When that happens, the illegal aliens and their children will act to maintain their current standard of living by voting themselves the paychecks of whites and Asians. And millions of them will resort to theft when that does not work. Life will become unbearable here. And businesses will flee. I expect the company I work for to move the last of its manufacturing overseas in 2008. The only immigrants we will have then will be career criminals looking for fresh victims.

The Truth of 911 Shall Set You Free From The Lie

Horse  posted on  2007-05-15   12:16:00 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#18. To: Horse (#17)

But the flood of illegal aliens do not produce children qualified to work and produce wealth.

Senor~ you buy chicklets ???

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   12:24:03 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#19. To: noone222 (#16)

yep, they'll renew our nation and make it a better place for our kids.

Why don't ya speed the process and move to Tijuana.

A border town? No thanks. The border towns suck shit. They are all lawless hellholes, and unfortunately that is all people think of when they think of Mexico. Give me a nice inland village, far from the cities in highland Mexico anytime. The people are friendly and decent, the policia are generally far away, and it's ...

Hell, it's like living in a free country.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   12:41:18 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#20. To: bluedogtxn (#19)

Hell, it's like living in a free country.

I guess the illegals just can't stand the freedom anylonger, so they're invading the U.S. by the millions.

Makes sense to me ... duh !!!

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   12:46:29 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#21. To: Horse (#17)

California produces a lot of wealth for America, because it has money makers like Intel and Apple. But the flood of illegal aliens do not produce children qualified to work and produce wealth. The dollar will collapse soon and permanently cut wages in half nationwide. When that happens, the illegal aliens and their children will act to maintain their current standard of living by voting themselves the paychecks of whites and Asians. And millions of them will resort to theft when that does not work. Life will become unbearable here. And businesses will flee. I expect the company I work for to move the last of its manufacturing overseas in 2008. The only immigrants we will have then will be career criminals looking for fresh victims.

Uh huh. The apocalyptic tide of immigrant destruction of America is always right around the corner.

When the immigration debate first started getting public attention, I was right there in the forefront, talking about the lowering of American wages, the national security threat of open borders and the lawlessness of a large illegal population.

But the "cultural destruction" argument doesn't impress me one bit. As if an immigrant wave of less than 10% of the population is going to unalterably shatter "what it means to be an American?" Get serious. It didn't happen before with the Irish (of which I are one, partially) or the Germans or the Italians; it won't happen with the Mexicans.

And the Mexicans won't "vote themselves the paychecks" of the whites and Asians. If they vote themselves anyone's paychecks, it'll be the paychecks of the rich; ie- folks who make a shitload of money (the Indians, Japanese and Jews).

All of California isn't going to fall into a wave of Latin criminality. Before that happens the Mexican gangs will have gained the kind of legitimacy the Italian mafia now enjoys, and they'll be the biggest proponents of law and order. Gambling and prostitution may become legal in California (and perhaps bullfighting and cock fighting, too), but so what? The shit ought to be legal anyway.

Besides, Californians, like the rest of Americans, aren't going to tolerate lawlessness in Beverly Hills or in Coto or in any of the nicer suburbs. They'll go for fascism first, and fill the prisons to bursting or hang blacks and hispanics from every telephone pole.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   12:50:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#22. To: noone222 (#20)

Hell, it's like living in a free country. I guess the illegals just can't stand the freedom anylonger, so they're invading the U.S. by the millions.

Makes sense to me ... duh !!!

They come over here and work because Mexico, although a relatively free (in the sense of not much govierno) country, is also a POOR country. Very poor. Which is why my Gringo dollares go very far there.

I'd move to Mexico in a minute if I could make the kind of money there that I do here and if my kids could go to a decent school. Desfortunado, that is not the case. El oportunidad is much better in el Norte. El libertad is better in El Sur, and Mexican kids never have to worry about being drafted to fight some war in the middle of Asia for God's sake.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   12:58:53 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#23. To: bluedogtxn (#21)

All of California isn't going to fall into a wave of Latin criminality.

Spoken like someone who has never lived there. Spend a decade in California and see if you still think that way.

After the third deportation hearing you end up having to testify at you will change your mind.

Here's a hint: The culture in California is NOTHING like the culture in Texas. Its Apples and Oranges. Texas promotes self-sufficiency. California promotes robbing thy neighbor and denying self-defense. California also has a special fund to compensate "victims of violent crime."

Press 1 to proceed in English. Press 2 for Deportation.

mirage  posted on  2007-05-15   13:00:54 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#24. To: noone222 (#20)

http://www.focusonmexico.com/categories.php?pagid=33&gclid=COLc8MrTkIwCFR6AWAodr1wVBA

Give it a read.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   13:05:19 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#25. To: bluedogtxn (#19)

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   13:05:31 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#26. To: mirage (#23)

Spoken like someone who has never lived there. Spend a decade in California and see if you still think that way.

I can't afford California and my kids' college funds at the same time. I can afford Texas.

That ought to tell you something about the relative desirability of the two locales.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   13:07:05 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#27. To: noone222 (#25)

That is a very funny picture.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   13:07:43 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#28. To: bluedogtxn (#24)

Give it a read.

A picture is worth a thousand words !

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   13:08:53 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#29. To: bluedogtxn (#27)

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   13:12:02 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#30. To: noone222 (#29)

Those are good pics, no doubt.

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   13:13:57 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#31. To: noone222 (#12)

I lived there about the same years, just slightly before/after. From 1986 on I was in North county which was still fields of flowers & strawberries. My children went fishing in local ponds in and around Vista/Bonsall. In the 80s, from Carlsbad where I worked, we had to drive 5 miles to San Marcos to find a good restaurant after we grew tired of the small handful near the beach.

There are no alternate routes, it's 5 or 15, unlike Orange county and L.A.

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." ~George Washington

robin  posted on  2007-05-15   13:17:29 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#32. To: noone222 (#0)

Barone discovered a pattern until now overlooked: the old coastal cities, or "Coastal Megalopolises" are steadily becoming dominated by immigrants, while at the same time native Americans are repopulating the thriving heartland cities.

Nooooooooooooooo... who would have suspected this???

Let's see... what's he going to discover next time he looks into 'the data'? That whiteys don't bother to breed lately while the darkies breed like rabbits? Or maybe that the failure-rewarding welfare state is going to drag the whole nation into the Third World?

Antiparty - find out why, think about 'how'

a vast rightwing conspirator  posted on  2007-05-15   13:18:27 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#33. To: noone222 (#29)

pictures bump

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." ~George Washington

robin  posted on  2007-05-15   13:18:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#34. To: bluedogtxn (#26)

I can't afford California and my kids' college funds at the same time. I can afford Texas.
That ought to tell you something about the relative desirability of the two locales.

No doubt. I've spent plenty of time in TX but lived in CA for just over a decade. You'll note I no longer live in CA....that should say something there!

CA is not something that can be described; it has to be experienced. The place is almost totally balkanized these days. It used to be that ethnic areas could get away with only renting to their own kind there (Hispanic, Vietnamese, etc) because there was always somewhere else for people to go and, well, its California. If you're a "minority" you could NEVER be convicted of discrimination....its just impossible!

No longer.

Vietnamese landlords are now being taken to court for not renting to Hispanics - or even Chinese. Asians wanted to break apart the Fremont School District and set one up that was 99% Asian (gee, go figure - and BTW, this was on the front page of the San Jose Mercury around 1998) and the place is so separated out you can draw lines on a map. Daly City is Filipino. Cupertino is Taiwanese. A large section of Newark is Arab. It goes on and on like that - and that's just the Bay Area. Los Angeles is a lot worse. If you choose to live on the 'wrong' side of the tracks, they let you know. Loudly.

My personal suggestion is this: Stay out of California if you value your life and your wallet.

It is not Texas. It is a totally different culture there. They took multiculturalism to an extreme -- and are now wondering where they went wrong. Santa Clara voted AGAINST naming a large section of the place "Koreatown" because they don't want to promote more balkanization. The Koreans were very unhappy. They wanted their own little town.

Oh, and for heaven's sakes, don't have a girlfriend that is not of your ethnicity and walk through an ethnic neighborhood. You'll be challenged on the streets for taking "one of ours" and will end up putting someone down on the street.

It gets even more fun in San Francisco's Chinatown where the Cantonese and Mandarin speakers have been squaring off for years. I had to rescue some friends who made the mistake of speaking the *wrong* dialect in a shop and were tossed out on the street for their troubles.

Press 1 to proceed in English. Press 2 for Deportation.

mirage  posted on  2007-05-15   13:22:22 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#35. To: bluedogtxn, ALL (#22)

and Mexican kids never have to worry about being drafted to fight some war in the middle of Asia for God's sake.

ROTFLOL! Apparently you unaware that Mexico, unlike the US, actually has a draft. All males at 18 must register for military service for one year. Who serves and how you serve depends on a lottery with a color scheme. With their armed forces numbering about 600,000 and 1 million males reaching 18 annually, you stand a pretty good chance of serving in some capacity. But most conscripts serve in a civil capacity and have but one practice shooting session their entire year.

And as for fighting some war in the middle of Asia, it's true that's not very likely since the Constitution requires a specific declaration of war before Mexico's military can fight outside the borders of the country. However, unlike the US, Mexico does not forbid the regular military from operations within its country's borders. That's a necessity since they have several wars going on inside their country at this time. One is the VERY nasty drug war we've all heard about. Another is against the EZLN guerillas in the southern state of Chiapas where there have been repeated armed uprisings since 1994. Still a third is against the EPR (Popular Revolutionary Army) in Guerrero and other states. Now if drafted, the likelihood of you fighting in those wars is small because it's mostly the voluteers who are doing that. Just as it's volunteers who are serving in the middle of Asia in the US military.

---------------------------------------------------------

Aren't you lucky. You get to receive one of the 15 posts I'm allowed each day.

BeAChooser  posted on  2007-05-15   13:36:04 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#36. To: bluedogtxn (#21)

As if an immigrant wave of less than 10% of the population is going to unalterably shatter "what it means to be an American?" Get serious.

About 1/2 of kids under the age of 5 in this "country" (I use the term loosely) are white.

It didn't happen before with the Irish (of which I are one, partially) or the Germans or the Italians; it won't happen with the Mexicans.

Apples and chilies.

history | grep grep

Tauzero  posted on  2007-05-15   13:49:06 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#37. To: robin (#31)

I'm very familiar with that area ... I lived and worked in the North County area a lot of the time.

In society it seems that 85% are good, honest, hard working folks while 15% are criminally inclined ... in Government the exact opposite occurs.

noone222  posted on  2007-05-15   14:00:45 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#38. To: robin (#10)

The traffic in San Diego

I've been there in the truck, Chula Vista actually. Traffic sucks all the way down from Barstow.

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke

BTP Holdings  posted on  2007-05-15   14:02:39 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#39. To: noone222 (#0)

What does this mean for our political culture? Barone touches on the question, noting that "The economic divide in New York and Los Angeles is starting to look like the economic divide in Mexico City and São Paulo", but doesn't go much further. But if the process continues, the implications will be profound.

"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke

BTP Holdings  posted on  2007-05-15   14:15:31 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#40. To: mirage (#34)

SanFran's Chinatown has been there since the Gold Rush. CA has been progressive and multicultural for over 150 years. The CA Native American population was nearly wiped out (more from disease than evil pioneers).

In the wild west women were allowed to own land! OMG! What a concept. This was not possible back east.
My gr-grandmother's cousin sued for the right to become an attorney. She was the first woman attorney in CA, Clara Shortridge Foltz.

At the close of WWII my Army Air Corps dad met a Black porter on the train who asked him where he was headed. When he said L.A., the porter called it Paradise.

There will always be pockets of tolerance and intolerance in CA, IMO. For example, in Northern CA there's Grass Valley where a person of color would probably be stared at. And then there's Yuba City and Marysville which now have wealthy East Indians and a growing hispanic population.

Multicultural has always been a CA trend.

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." ~George Washington

robin  posted on  2007-05-15   14:19:53 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#41. To: robin (#40)

Multicultural has always been a CA trend.

But has racism in all corners been a CA trend? It seems to be now.

There is a big difference between an ethnic neighborhood like Chinatown that seeks to share its culture with others -- and a quadrant of a city that seeks to exclude those who are not the same.

A lot of people seem to think that ethnocentrism and racism is a "whites only" club. They are 100% dead wrong and California is beginning to wake up and realize they've been had.

Press 1 to proceed in English. Press 2 for Deportation.

mirage  posted on  2007-05-15   14:23:43 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#42. To: mirage (#41)

Chinatown has always been fairly enthnocentric - you could argue they were forced to be at first. My son took an economic course at Cal where he learned that every dollar in Chinatown is cycled within the community 9 times before leaving.

When a couple small minorities were ethnocentric it hardly mattered. Now over half the state belongs to some special hyphenated group. Yeah, we've been had. I make an effort at work to cross cultural lines, but some prefer to sit together and speak their own native tongue.

It's the new "tossed salad" replacing the "melting pot".

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." ~George Washington

robin  posted on  2007-05-15   14:30:17 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#43. To: BTP Holdings (#38)

15 is just awful. It wasn't that long ago it was an easy drive. They're widening it in some places.

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." ~George Washington

robin  posted on  2007-05-15   14:31:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#44. To: robin (#42)

It's the new "tossed salad" replacing the "melting pot".

Wait for the big quake to hit CA and watch people realize they can't communicate because they decided to live in their own private universes.

Its probably the only thing that will case them to wake up down there and realize that they're all in it 'together' and that willfull separation as they do is just going to get them nowhere.

Press 1 to proceed in English. Press 2 for Deportation.

mirage  posted on  2007-05-15   14:49:58 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#45. To: mirage (#44)

That'll work for 5 minutes until they all move to AZ and CO.

"Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism." ~George Washington

robin  posted on  2007-05-15   14:53:49 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#46. To: BeAChooser (#35)

ROTFLOL! Apparently you unaware that Mexico, unlike the US, actually has a draft. All males at 18 must register for military service for one year.

ROTFLOL right back at you, dreaded villain!

I have literally dozens of Mexican nationals who are clients of mine, and NOT ONE has had to serve time in the Mexican Army! ROTFLOL!

And the children of foreign nationals are exempt from the Mexican draft!

ROTFLOL! ROTFLOL! ROTFLOL!

The more laws, the more offenders.

bluedogtxn  posted on  2007-05-15   16:17:33 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#47. To: bluedogtxn, ALL (#46)

I have literally dozens of Mexican nationals who are clients of mine, and NOT ONE has had to serve time in the Mexican Army!

Maybe they got lucky and didn't get selected or perhaps they violated Mexican law and just didn't register.

But Mexico DOES have a draft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_service

http://www.photius.com/countries/mexico/national_security/mexico_national_security_recruitment_and_cons~511.html

http://www.wri-irg.org/co/rtba/mexico.htm

http://www.wri-irg.org/pubs/br61-en.htm

According to the above sources, one receives an identity card upon completion of the year's service. Until recently, that card was apparently required for a passport, driver's license or employment with the government. In 2002 they dropped the requirement as far as getting a passport. I don't know whether the ID card is still required to get a driver's license or government employment. I do see from one of the sources below that I was wrong ... only 60,000 recruits are needed a year so your chances of not having to serve are high.

And the children of foreign nationals are exempt from the Mexican draft!

No doubt true but don't think for one minute your children, if you go there, will be first class "citizens". They will not have many of the rights that Mexican here in the US are afforded. And neither will you.

---------------------------------------------------------

Aren't you lucky. You get to receive one of the 15 posts I'm allowed each day.

BeAChooser  posted on  2007-05-15   19:54:22 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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