Alien Country, Indeed
by Srdja Trifkovic
[Subscribe online to Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. Click here for details].
The Center for Immigration Studies has issued a new report on the size, growth, and characteristics of America’s foreign-born population. The report, based on the Census Bureau’s March 2007 Current Population Survey, is a sobering read and a timely addendum to my “Half a Billion Americans?” article posted last August. The immigrant population—legal and illegal—was just under 40 million in 2007, or one-eighth of all U.S. residents; one-third of them are here illegally. The report establishes that, since 2000, more than ten million immigrants have settled in the United States, which the highest seven-year period of immigration in this country’s history. More than half of post-2000 arrivals (5.6 million) are estimated to be illegal aliens.
The educational level of adult immigrants is abysmally low: almost a third of them (31 percent) have not completed high school, compared to 8 percent of Americans. They are disproportionally reliant on public largesse: one-third (33 percent) of immigrant-headed households use at least one welfare program, compared to just 19 percent for American households. Among households headed by immigrants from Mexico—the largest single group—51 percent use at least one welfare program. The poverty rate for immigrants and their U.S.-born children under the age of 18 is 17 percent, almost 50 percent higher than the rate for Americans and their children.
More than a third (34 percent) of recent immigrants have no health insurance, compared to 13 percent of Americans. Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for 71 percent of the increase in the overall number of uninsured since 1989. The main reason for the high rates of immigrant poverty, lack of health insurance, and welfare use is their low education levels rather than their legal status or an unwillingness to work. And if you think that one “benefit” of immigration is to lower the median age of the native population—as some immigration enthusiasts still assert—think again: recent immigration has had no significant impact on the nation’s age structure. Even without more than ten million immigrants who came to America since 2000, the average age in this country would be virtually unchanged at 36.5 years.
The CIS study presents us with the fruits of the unholy alliance between capitalist greed and cultural-Marxist revolutionaries. Messrs. Bush, Cheney and their ilk have joined the ghost of Herbert Marcuse in facilitating the creation of the repressively-tolerant multi-ethnic Global Empire. While ostensibly based on the principles of free-market capitalism and liberal democracy, the emerging monstrosity is objectively an ally of the revolution desired by Gramsci’s disciples. The Long March needs all those millions of newcomers: the invading multitudes are seen as “objective allies” of the revolutionary elite because they are ignorant, dependent on the state for sustenance, and devoid of any enduring, culturally significant, emotionally binding, or esthetically valuable identity.
The resulting mutt post-nation is the fulfillment of the Frankfurt School dream not only because it is inevitably a partner in the “creative destruction” of the old order—which is the objective of the Mussolinian neocon Michael Ledeen—but also because it contains the germ of another form of globalization: the counter-Empire that will be made possible by demographic change within the West. Edward Gibbon could have been writing of today’s Malmo or New Jersey when he wrote of late-Imperial Rome, its inhabitants sinking “into a vile and wretched populace, which must, in a few generations, have been totally extinguished, if it had not been constantly recruited by the manumission of slaves and the influx of strangers.”
Immigration, the modern equivalent of manumission and influx, is the essential Gramscian tool. By allowing a vast subculture of utterly unassimilable and often hostile immigrants to emerge within their societies, the ruling elites in all Western nations have encouraged the emergence of an alternative social and political structure in their midst, of which Islamic terrorism is but one consequence. By seeking to appease present and further newcomers by granting them special privileges in the name of compassion, inclusiveness, multiculturalism and diversity, the host-countries have whetted their appetites for more concessions.
Of course the childless, aging Me-Now degenerates—ever more dependent on imported labor to keep them fed, clothed, washed, and medicated—will be eager to comply. Their horizon is limited by their mortality, and their decisions are guided by the immediate earthly needs and ideological impulses of their unique selves. Their power and authority must be destroyed if “the West” is to continue as a distinct civilization capable of survival beyond the end of this century.
[Subscribe online to Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture. Click here for details].
1 Comment by Bede on 14 December 2007:
This is very true. But I wonder whether capitalism has reached a phase where it no longer can sustain tradition (not that it ever really did a good job at it previously, but it least it was tempered by religious, regional and ancestral loyalties), and itself has become the harbinger of radical change. Modern capitalism better facilitates multi-ethnic and multi-cultural transformation than perhaps any system in the history of Man. While CEOs make a fast buck from cheap labor, the Third World hordes and their overlords sack the West of its posterity and live off its fat. What are conservatives today (i.e. those who wish to preserve themselves and their ancestral obligations) to do?
2 Comment by G.L.A. on 14 December 2007:
“the counter-Empire that will be made possible by demographic change within the West”
Dr. TrifKovic thank you for another informative article. Would you not agree that the demographic change is only one side of the double edge sword of this revolution? The other edge is being the large scale removal of capital from the US to other parts of the world. Industry, agriculture and professional services are transported elsewhere at the same scale that immigrants alter the demograhpics.
3 Comment by J. on 15 December 2007:
Dear Dr. Trifkovic,
Please correct me if I misread you, but you seem to make a sharp distinction between “Americans” and immigrants to the U.S.A.
The simple fact is that the U.S.A. is indeed a true country of immigrants, who have built everything that is of any value here.
(That is besides the opinion that “Americans” could rightfully apply only to American Indians.)
As you well know, this is not (only) about some “distant history”, but refers to a constant process very much at work today (equally essential as it was some century ago when Tesla, Pupin and countless others came to these shores with their priceless gifts, or some half a century ago that brought here the best physicists, mathematicians, rocket scientists and others, and so on).
You are mentioning Marcuse, Marx, Neocons, Bush, Cheney, Ledeen and who knows other forsaken who – all in one breath with immigration to the U.S… But these people, dead or alive, are totally irrelevant to the subject matter, fashion of this contrived web site notwithstanding.
As for the “accusatory” statistics you quote (I have not checked it and am taking it at your word): isn’t it common sense to _assume_ that the most recent immigrant families _anywhere_ would have more financial difficulties and need more welfare assistance than others?!
It seems as if in your mind you hopelessly mix “have” with “virtue”.
(And at the end, you suddenly bring out some “childless, aging Me-Now degenerates” to suggest that – no less than survival of entire Western civilization depends on their destruction!)
Pardon for wondering what your point is.
Quite incidentally, do _you_ consider yourself an “American” or an immigrant?
4 Comment by Ronald Kyser on 15 December 2007:
The educational level of adult immigrants is abysmally low…
This sad fact can be leveraged to our purposes. Randall Burns at Vdare.com once proposed raising the minimum wage for non-citizen labor by a few dollars. I think he assumed only Congress could do this, and never returned to the idea.
But the majority of states have set their own minimum wages above that of the feds; nearly all states discriminate against aliens in charging tuition fees, and all do in the voting booth. Put these two policies together, and most of the problem is solved, and by the states. (Or, better yet, by the people of the states, where initiative-and-referendum is available.)
I would suggest raising the state minimum wage for aliens– legal aliens, that is– to the median wage for the state, on the principle that foreigners shouldn’t be competing against the bottom half of the citizenry.
Who’s going to hire a non-English-speaking fourth-grade dropout at $22/hr?
5 Comment by JoeMorgan on 15 December 2007:
J. wrote:
“The simple fact is that the U.S.A. is indeed a true country of immigrants, who have built everything that is of any value here.”
Human beings have many identities, some important some trivial.
While the Europeans who built America as a First World, rule of law, technically and scientifically advanced society were immigrants or descendants of immigrants — “immigrant” is not an important nor accurate definition for them.
Race creates culture.
And if immigrant as an identity is an essential way to define someone, then why not call Israel “a nation of Immigrants” instead of a Jewish State? Then change the immigration laws and allow only Gentiles to immigrate — quickly making Jews a dwindling minority, and then say, nothing has changed in Israel, Israel was and still is a “nation of immigrants.”
How many Jews could you con with that?
6 Comment by woodcutter on 15 December 2007:
Dr. TrifKovic , It is my observation that a number of legal immigrants would fall into the category of “childless, aging Me-Now degenerates “. This should also be added to the report. The US is a golden opportunity for professionals that are searching for the American Dream from far off colder or poorer less liberal environs.
7 Comment by Trifkovic on 15 December 2007:
Stricto sensu, every nation is a “NATION OF IMMIGRANTS” — including this continent’s pre-Columbian “nations” and the Old Testament Israelites. But “natio” (tribe, people) is defined by kinship — genetic and cultural — which in America’s case was clearly defined, well understood, and openly celebrated a century ago.
The notion of “the nation of immigrants” as the one based on ideological propositions of diversity etc, that grants to millions of unassimilable new arrivals (legal AND illegal) the rights equal to, or even greater than those enjoyed by Rhode Island’s or Virginia’s 5th or 6th generation citizens, is absurd and utterly repugnant.
8 Comment by Trifkovic on 15 December 2007:
To #2 G.L.A.: “Would you not agree that the demographic change is only one side of the double edge sword of this revolution? The other edge is being the large scale removal of capital from the US to other parts of the world” — the trouble is that the former is far less easily reversible than the latter. Demography (unlike capital flows) will haunt the West for many decades to come, even if there is a belated and surprising moral recovery.
9 Comment by DJGB Popadich on 15 December 2007:
Der Mann Reiss war ein Schweizer. Schweizer Bürger ist es – und ein Serbe durch sein Herz und innerlich Wunder ein. Um zu sagen sind sie meisten des Schweizers Reiss gleich… wurden eine äußerste Punkt viel. Jedoch, im Leben und in den Briefen prüft er ganz im Straftat.
Reiss kam nach Serbien im Rund des Krieges: er antwortete des Königs Anruf. Er geläufig sieht der Polyglott-Armee – Übel, wie es war; bildete richtigen Bericht zur Welt und dem König.
Kleines Land in Asche legen und ihr Volk ist auf dem Strick. Fiktive Kraft, Oberste Kultur, dieses und das, flicken sie die blutige Aufgabe. Ein Einzelgänger im Feld passe auf ein großes Unwohlsein und einen scharfen Abriß.
Am Fuß des Hügels sitze eine Wiese: kleiner Frühling des Wassers und eine ursprüngliche Kirche: Der Schlaf Nest des Herzogs unter dem galaktischen Baum in der steifen Stille; Das Grab eines alleinigen Mannes steht Markierung ein.
Schweizer, Deutscher und der Serbe: Reiss im Ruhe… an diesem Platz, seit bis neunzehn hundert zwanzigste… neun.
DJGBP /2006
10 Comment by Trifkovic on 15 December 2007:
Sehr geehrter Herr Popadich: Vielen dank für Ihre Mitteilung. Wir sind, nichtsdestotrotz, eine amerikanische Institution; können Sie in Englisch schreiben, bitte? Mit besten Grüßen, ST
11 Comment by G.L.A. on 15 December 2007:
“the fruits of the unholy alliance between capitalist greed and cultural-Marxist revolutionaries”
“the ruling elites in all Western nations have encouraged the emergence of an alternative social and political structure in their midst”
“the counter-Empire that will be made possible by demographic change within the West”
Dr. Trifkovic, another question. Is this drastic change that you describe above, a result of a deliberate, revolutionary plan hatched by the ruling class or is it simply the unfolding of postmodern, managerial capitalism following its natural course?
12 Comment by ahhh Milutine on 15 December 2007:
Milutine,Milutine,
“u Becu kao Beclija”
Dr ST je americki drzavljanin i on je polagao zakletvu!
Vi ocigledno zivite na nekoj drugoj planeti AKO ne znate da ljudi mogu da imaju dvojno drzavljanstvo:(..znam da znate ali morali ste se najaviti sa jako ‘bistrim’komentarom…
takva su pitanja postavljali titini drugovi i drug’rice:)
13 Comment by Trifkovic on 15 December 2007:
#11 Од 27. септембра 2000. Што се лингвистике на овом сајту тиче, коментар је исти као и под #10…
#12 “Is this drastic change that you describe above, a result of a deliberate, revolutionary plan hatched by the ruling class or is it simply the unfolding of postmodern, managerial capitalism following its natural course?”
– I’d say it was conspiratorial and deliberate in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, but by now it’s been internatilzed by the recruits into the ranks of the elite so deeply and so completely than no “Revolution Central” is needed. Orwell’s “heroes” would be proud…
14 Comment by Милутин on 15 December 2007:
Извињавам се , јао нисам био прочитао #14 на време (одговарао сам на #13). Ево, сад (или) одма’ ћу да заборавим матерњи језик … … evo gubi se … … what did you say? Long Live Bush!
15 Comment by woodcutter on 16 December 2007:
TDr. Trifkovic, their horizon is limited by their mortality, and their decisions are guided by the immediate earthly needs and ideological impulses of their unique selves.
Dr. Trifkovic, as a pastor I have the opportunity to preach to many people over the next couple of weekends. I sense that the over 60 crowd ( a generalization ) is most likely unable to grasp words like secularism, radical individualism, relativism and post modern. There seems to be different forms of acknowledgement in younger people, at the same time they seem to be sucked into the world of soft western Buddhism, and yoga type solutions that merely make them feel a false sense of security, while buying up the latest exercise machines and DVDs’. Do you think that there is an age group or a demographic that would more likely understand that their reality may not be what it seems.
16 Comment by Grumpy Old Man on 16 December 2007:
1. For English, press “1.”
2. For Serbian, press “2.”
3. For Croatian, hang up and dial “911.”
4. For Albanian, put a gun to your head, pull the lever, and wait for the “Pop!”
Or did I misread the Cyrillic?
17 Comment by roho on 16 December 2007:
#5….Joe Morgan…………………….GREAT POINT!
18 Comment by Clark Coleman on 16 December 2007:
We are not a nation of immigrants. An immigrant is someone who enters a nation other than his own. The United States of America was not a nation until late in the 18th century.
Those who come to a place where there is more land available that the current occupants can occupy, but which is not a nation, are “settlers” or colonists” depending on who sponsored them. Native Americans and those who came here before we became a nation were not immigrants.
Perhaps we will have better civic discussions when words have meanings again.
19 Comment by Paleo on 16 December 2007:
This invasion portends the demographic elimination of whites – plain and simple.
There are thousands of black, mestizo and asian organizations in the U.S. – all defending the interests of blacks, mestizos, and asians.
Yet, if a white lifts a finger to support the survival of his own race, the white race, then he’s branded by the left and neocons as a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
20 Comment by RG on 17 December 2007:
#18 is exactly correct. As is Dr Trifkovic. Every nation on earth is a “nation of immigrants”, furthermore, the USA was founded not by immigrants but by people who had lived here before Independence. Also, the originals pilgrims, colonists, pioneers are not the same as immigrants.
Immigrants move to an already established country. The above mentioned settlers create something out of nothing.
As an aside. Even if the USA stopped all illegal immigration, we still would accept more legal immigrants each year than all other nations in the world combined, each and every year. In other words, strongly fighting against illegal immigration does not make one “anti-immigrant”. It simply makes on a concerned citizen who believes in the rule of law.
21 Comment by Boba on 18 December 2007:
According to a well informed source there are one million immigrants from Asia waiting to immigrate to North America every year! They are all with proper documentation and required legal papers.
22 Comment by RG on 18 December 2007:
Reliable polls are now showing that the majority of Americans favor reducing even legal immigration, in other words the so called “time out”. I agree with this view. The USA is not the world’s employment office.
From 1925 until 1965, the USA had relatively low levels of immigration. That was a “time out” for FORTY YEARS. I propose we do the same but for not as long a period. I’d say we try a time out for five to ten years as a test. The nation will not end, in fact, it will improve as assimilation will take root. Wages will rise as the endless supply of cheap immigrant labor will reduce. Americans will benefit.
Globalism is foolish.
23 Comment by Michael Kenny on 19 December 2007:
Ageing degenerates, OK. But does one need to worry about “ageing” anythings? Just wait a while and they die off!
24 Comment by Damir on 19 December 2007:
To #23 MK: And when the aging anythings die off they get replaced
by uneducated muslim extremists on welfare with 10-15 kids per family…And then we all start singing “peace and love” songs!
25 Comment by Carl on 30 December 2007:
So “selfish” aging Baby Boomers aren’t having kids? Hang around any Lord & Taylor or Chuck E. Cheese at the local mall and I think you’ll walk away with a different opinion. Easy caricatures wilt before reality.