I turn to letters to the editor for many things–humor, political commentary, moments of zen, and much more–but book recommendations have never been part of that list. After reading a letter today from the Fremont Tribune suggesting a book on immigration reform, I think book recommendations are still safely off the roster. Because the best part of the letter is how the writer recommends the book, well, see for yourself:
I am a citizen who tries to stay informed on social policy issues. I checked out “The New Case Against Immigration” written by Mark Krikorian. On its cover was this quote by Michelle Malkin, “When it comes to our immigration mess, no one has a deeper understanding of the facts than Mark Krikorian. Pay attention: America’s future is at stake.”
The book’s jacket stated [quote from jacket giving Krikorian’s bio]. His book as the jacket states serves to relay facts [quote from jacket assuring that book is based on facts, not xenophobia]. The jacket continues “Krikorian proves that although mass immigration once served our national interests, in today’s America it threatens to destroy our common national identity, limit opportunities for upward mobility, strain resources for social programs and disrupt middle-class norms of behavior.”
I highly recommend this book for all concerned Fremont citizens, and especially for all members of the mayor’s Task Force on Immigration, including Edwards and Ekeler, co-chairmen. Your reading of this book may just change your thinking regarding the immigration debate forevermore. It will without doubt give you the bigger picture.
Did she actually read the book or did she just read the jacket? Perhaps the book the letter writer actually read was How to talk about books you haven’t read. No, probably not, since I imagine that book would suggest avoiding the words “the jacket says.” I paraphrased the first couple quotes because they were long and boring and offered no interesting or new perspective. The author thinks immigration–both legal and illegal–is destroying America? Yawn. His editors need to add some zest to his cover. Doesn’t this conversation ever get old? Immigrants come over and after a few generations they too get to add in to protesting too many immigrants coming in. Perhaps that’s the sign of true assimilation, when you complain about the level of immigration to the country.
Because I happen to like political cartoons in addition to letters to the editor, and I really don’t think there’s much new to offer in terms of this conversation anyways, I’m like to showcase a few editorial cartoons to demonstrate that this “new case” against immigration is nothing of the sort. Perhaps the most potent and commonly used imagery is of immigrants overpowering American symbols:
From 1889, this cartoon shows the image of the Irish immigrant (seen her with an Irish flag and a knife) as unmixable.
And wow, that is one giant novelty mixing spoon. I wonder, does use of the American flag count as desecration? You’d think she’d be more careful about that. The next two are particularly similar in nature, despite a century’s difference in printing times
From 1903, The High Tide of Immigration--A National Menace
Lady Liberty can't handle global warming, I mean, huge waves of immigrants.
Yes, those immigrants sure do pose a danger to our American symbols, what with all the high tides and mixing clumps (especially clumps with knives!). But let’s not be insular, so here’s a fun one about immigration to Canada:
Sifton (presumably Clifford Sifton who was the Minister of the Interior and oversaw a massive migration to Canada): Here’s a lovely group of immigrants that I got for practically nothing!
Miss Canada (presumably not the country’s beauty pageant winner): My god! How much will it cost to send them back?
Yes, I always knew my French skills would one day come in handy. But far and away the most enjoyable old political cartoon has to be this old one, for which I couldn’t find a date:
The Inevitable Result to the American Workingman of Indiscriminate Immigration
“Egads! The gypsies are getting into our butter!” Wow, the expressions on this one are priceless. In fact, from now on when I hear someone saying that immigrants hurt American workers I’ll be thinking, ‘Yes! They get their greasy mitts all into our delicious butter!’ or ‘Immigrants: They want to stick their fingers in our butter!’ And I’ll laugh a little, and everyone will think I’m crazy.
We must protect America's butters!
Immigration is our true national identity–immigrants don’t destroy that, they enhance it. They also pay taxes, even illegal immigrants. It’s hard to estimate, but the government calculates that undocumented immigrants pay taxes at the tune of about $9 billion a year in Social Security taxes alone. Indeed, these taxes from people who won’t be taking out benefits helps the system a great deal. According to the article, “The Social Security Administration estimates that about three-quarters of illegal workers pay taxes that contribute to the overall solvency of Social Security and Medicare.” In fact, a 2007 study from the University of Arizona found that illegal immigrants benefited the economy more than they cost it. Somehow I doubt this book with its lengthy jacket quotes will provide any new insight into immigration, because if these political cartoons show anything, it’s that there really is nothing “new” under the sun when it comes to immigration.
Letters from Nebraska 