The Melting Pot

I remember years ago in grade school we were studying American history and politics. My teacher at that time was discussing America and the ideal we represent to the world. This was right in the middle of the Cold War. The Soviet Union was attempting to spread its form of socialism around the globe. Even in the relatively "free" Europe, socialism was destroying the economies of once global powers. But America stood alone as a beacon of hope to all those who yearned to be free, or simply hoped for a better life.

As we studied the birth and growth of this great nation, we were introduced to the notion of America being a Melting Pot. The idea was that the very best ideas from a multitude of cultures were blended to create a common culture that celebrates freedom. For decades, this grand experiment worked. Germans, English, French, Irish, Spanish, Asian and African immigrants brought their customs, food, language, music, ideas, inventions to our shores and the very best of each became part of a new and wonderful American culture. America's freedom allowed capitalism to thrive and create the most powerful and economically successful nation in the history of the world in just couple centuries.

Where did the Melting Pot concept go?

In the last few decades, the concept of a melting pot disappeared. In its place we have the scourge of multiculturalism, that wants to separate people by culture, sex, religion, race or any other way liberals see fit to divide this nation. Instead of immigrants embracing all that is good about this nation, they want to recreate their own little enclave here in America and refuse to integrate. They stick to their customs, language, dress and then wonder why Americans treat them differently.

America is a country of immigrants. We celebrate those that have arrived here LEGALLY and have contributed to the success of this nation. We hear the stories of families that lost everything in Viet Nam, Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, China, Africa, Latin America or the Middle East, that come here with nothing but a dream and stand in awe of their struggle. These people come here, work hard, pay their taxes, obey the law and remain committed as a family to become AMERICANS. Within a generation, many of these are quite successful and fully integrated into society. They remember and honor their past culture, but they also EMBRACE their new home, America.

Love America Or Leave It!

There is not a major city in this country that does not have pockets of immigrants that have recreated their own little homeland. And there is nothing wrong with this as long as the ultimate plan is to assimilate into the culture of your new country. Learn the language, obey the laws and enjoy the freedom that America gives you. Leave the barbaric laws and practices of the old country behind and enjoy the fruits of western civilization.

Instead, we get groups like NCLR and CAIR that attempt to elevate or provide special privileges to certain cultural groups. Or even worse, encouraging illegal immigration or illegal activity. This must be stopped. We do not need another official language. English has united us quite well for over two hundred years. We don't need sharia laws. The Constitution, when it is upheld, works quite nicely. Nor do we need honor killings, rapes, terrorism, drug gangs, beheadings and all the other fruits that are staples in many parts of the rest of the world.

If legal immigrants or residents are not willing to live under our laws, or honor the values of this great country, its time to head back home. If you are not willing to learn the language and enjoy the American dream - Adiós, Aloha, Auf Wiedersehen, Au revoir, Shalom, Ciao, Chao, Hyvästi, See you later!

Just The Facts, Ma'am...

You have probably seen this little factoid posted on Facebook or anywhere else crazy folk might lurk:

Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:
South Carolina – 50th; North Carolina – 49th; Georgia – 48th; Texas – 47th; Virginia – 44th

Usually followed by the claim that Wisconsin (#2), and supposedly all union states, do far better than states that have rightfully outlawed or minimized collective bargaining for PUBLIC employees. Funny thing is, this claim has now been retracted. See here. Seems it was based on faulty data - their words, not mine.

But I am not surprised. This is standard practice for the loony left. They take some small statistic out of context to try and prove their point.

Blogger Iowahawk put the smack down on the premise above, so I don't want to repeat his noble work. You can see his original post here and the follow up here. He rightly pointed out the drastic demographic differences between states and the absurdity of using ACT or SAT as a ranking in the first place - especially if you are looking at cumulative score and not by ethnicity.

But I do want to take a look at the ACT numbers, of course by ethnic breakdown, to see just how collectivist states compare to free states. These numbers are for 2010.

Average ACT Composite Score 2010 (Evil free states in bold)

White students: Virginia 23.5, North Carolina 23.4, Texas 23.1, Wisconsin 23.0, Georgia 22.9, Ohio 22.5, South Carolina 22.1, Michigan 20.7, Illinois 20.1 (national 22.3)

Black students: Virginia 17.6, Georgia 17.4, North Carolina 17.4, Ohio 17.3, Texas 17.3, Illinois 16.7, South Carolina 16.5, Wisconsin 16.0, Michigan 15.8 (national 16.9)

Hispanic students: Virginia 21.6, North Carolina 20.3, Ohio 20.3, Georgia 20.1, South Carolina 19.8, Wisconsin 19.8, Texas 18.3, Illinois 18.0, Michigan 17.7 (national 18.6)

You don't want to form any definitive opinions from these numbers. Several factors might explain the difference. For instance, the amount of private schools and home schooled children per state may skew the results. Income and poverty levels may play a part as well. But it is interesting that the ACTUAL data is the complete opposite of what the left is claiming. Note that all 5 evil states are at or above the national average.

Conservatives do not want stupid children or underpaid teachers. We want a quality education system that rewards the best teachers based on merit. We do not want a system that is designed to reward laziness or incompetence. Nor do we want a system that is basically a money laundering scheme for the Democrat party - where dues go through the unions into the pockets of Democrat politicians, who then sit down with the same union folk and "negotiate" how to further screw taxpayers and ultimately the children.

Just so you know I didn't just make up the data (who would do that), here are the ACT scores and for further amusement, you can find all sorts of stuff on the Nation's Report Card.