PrintBarbarian invasions
The word "barbarian" comes from the ancient Greek, and originally meant a person or peoples who spoke a foreign tongue. The Greeks considered a barbarian to be an alien or outsider, one who was not of their language or culture. This term was later applied to the Germanic invaders of Rome, who would eventually overrun the Empire and usher in the Dark Ages. These invaders did not come as warriors so much as peaceful immigrants — some legally, most not. They did not see themselves as Romans, and they made no effort to adapt themselves to Roman customs and laws. Within a few hundred years they had destroyed the Western Empire.
Here in the United States we are experiencing our own invasion; millions of illegal immigrants are crossing our borders, speakers of another language who do not see themselves as Americans, and who have no intention of adapting themselves to American customs and laws. Our response, much like the Romans, has been timid and irresolute and thus completely ineffectual. Our leaders don`t seem to recognize the seriousness of this situation; some even argue that this invasion is beneficial. Such reasoning is myopic in the extreme; barbarians destroyed the glory that was Rome. Why would our fate be any different?
Under the administration of President George W. Bush, we are seeing a steady increase in illegal immigration. Mexico has been flooding the Southwest with immigrants, slowly Latinizing the culture. According to the Population Reference Bureau:
"The number of undocumented immigrants in the United States has increased 23 percent over the last four years to 10.3 million people, according to a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center. And more than one—half of the undocumented are from Mexico."
In fact, the total immigrant population of the United States now stands at 33 million, or 11% of the entire population, which, according to The Center for Immigration Studies, is significantly higher than at any time in history.At this rate, immigration will swell the population of the United States to 400 million in 50 years. (This includes all immigrants, legal and illegal.) Consider that we have 10.3 million illegals here now, with at least 800,000 more entering every year. In twenty years we will have 26.3 million illegals, plus any children they may have. The population of the United States when it was founded was only 3 million. This is over 8 times that number, and these people have all entered this country illegally. In fact, there are over 3 million children born in the United States to families headed by illegals. The Population Reference Bureau, furthermore, shows that the overwhelming number of illegals are men between 18 and 39 (43%) followed by Women between 18 and 39 (29%) with 17% being children. The age breakdown is important; it means that the bulk of the population is at prime childbearing age, or will be in a number of years. We are about to have a baby boom of children of illegal immigrants.
Much like Nero, the Roman Emperor who entertained himself on the violin while his capital burned (according to legend, if not fact), President Bush has made little effort to deal with this problem. His best suggestion is to offer guest—worker status to illegals, thus removing the danger of their being deported and creating an incentive for more to come. This is craven kowtowing to the agricultural employers who pay Dickinsonian wages for stoop labor. (Granted, the Democrats' solution is far worse; they simply want to naturalize the illegals, then sign them up to vote!)
The President has not pushed for greater enforcement of immigration law (he is the chief law enforcement officer), has mocked the Minutemen as dangerous vigilantes (in fact, the Washington Times reported that the border patrol was ordered to stand down while the Minutemen patrolled), and has done little to discourage the tide of illegal aliens, in spite of the dangers of a porous border in the post—911 world. (If illegals without a high school education can get across the border, what is to stop al Qaeda?)
What we are witnessing has the appearance of a Mexican policy aimed toward reannexation. Look at this billboard in Los Angeles . There is a growing sense of Mexican Manifest Destiny. A Zogby poll showed 58 percent of Mexicans agreed that, "The territory of the Southwest U.S. rightfully belongs to Mexico" This is further illustrated by former President Ernesto Zedillo stating in comments to the National Council of La Raza in 1997 in Chicago,
"I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders."
It is fairly obvious that Mexico has the American Southwest in it`s crosshairs.
Many Mexicans believe that the United States stole the Southwest and California from them, and their countrymen now overrun these areas with Mexican citizens. They believe that if they can colonize enough of their citizens in these regions, they can annex them. Mexican claims on the Southwest stem from the secession of Texas, and the Mexican War. They believe that the United States robbed them of these territories militarily, and that they have a rightful, legal claim on them. But do they?
One of the most overlooked Presidents in American history was James Polk. A man of his word, Polk was the only U.S. president to fulfill all of his campaign promises. He limited himself to a four—point platform, and succeeded in fulfilling every pledge. He promised to reestablish the independent treasury system, lower the tariff (which was accomplished by the 1846 Walker Tariff), settle the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain (known by the famous "54
