Immigration: Grasping The Ethnic Nettle
03/05/2005
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My friend Tom Bethell is continuing to think thoughtful (but cautious) thoughts about immigration in the American Spectator. Read it to gauge the immense pressure that the Beltway puts on sensible conservatives.

Tom tries this version of the neoconservative line:

“In the 1890s, U.S. immigration was essentially unrestricted, and I would be in favor of that today were it not for two things: the welfare state, and the campaign against the melting pot, waged over the past generation with some success.”

Well, yes. But in the 1890s immigration was not “essentially unrestricted.” Asians were banned.

In the end, with immigration, you have to grasp the ethnic nettle.

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