[X-Posted at www.ihatewhatyoujustsaid.com]
Chuck Norris has written a 2-part series educating us about how our nation's founders provided solutions to the problem of immigration (I refuse to link to it; it is over at Town Hall if you must). Chuck quotes Thomas Jefferson, who argues that the nation should emphasize an assimilationist strategy designed to prevent the formation of isolated cultural or linguistic ghettos that would render the country "a heterogeneous, incoherent, distracted mass." He further quotes Alexander Hamilton, who wrote that "the safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of citizens from foreign bias and prejudice; and on the love of country, which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education, and family."
Ok, Chuck, we get it. The nation needs a national culture, a shared language, a common sentiment--else the nation will fracture into tiny cultural enclaves and form a disruptive heterogeneity.
But how do we solve this thorny issue? How best to ensure that our nation isn't balkanized into an "incoherent, distracted mass"? Of course, for Chuck, the only possible solution to any problem is to return to the ideas of the 18th-century Founding Fathers and learn there how best to deal with our 21st-century ones. Or he could cheat by cribbing from the right wing Heritage Foundation, which is where Chuck finds a summary of the Naturalization Act of 1795--an act of Congress which enumerated the steps for immigrants to gain "enrollment and acceptance" in our nation:
The Heritage Foundation summarizes: "Key criteria for citizenship of the Naturalization Act of 1795 remain part of American law. These include (1) five years of (lawful) residence within the United States; (2) a 'good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the United States'; (3) the taking of a formal oath to support the Constitution and to renounce any foreign allegiance; and (4) the renunciation of any hereditary titles."
If we follow these ideas, Chuck maintains, we'll find the way to resolve our current immigration problem. Sounds great, right?
But here's the thing. As a scholar of 18th-century America, I know a lot about this particular piece of legislation. If you read the whole thing it clearly states that citizenship is only available to "free white persons." A slave? No citizenship for you. Is your skin brown, black or yellow? No citizenship for you. Sounds a lot like the Tea Party after all: racists who think that only whites should be the heirs to America.
You suck as an historian, Chuck.