Scott Kamps
A pressing concern of uncontrolled immigration is those who come without consent (i.e., illegal immigrants) are unlikely to conform to American principles, thus changing the character of our nation.
This concern is intensified because we’re a nation founded on principles, not ethnicity. As a melting pot of people from all over the world, lack of assimilation is detrimental to our republic’s survival. While being grateful that thousands come to our land daily – a vivid demonstration that America is exceptional – we can’t maintain our greatness if we fall apart.
Further, we’re a refuge for the oppressed – the land of liberty for those under tyranny and a place where the downtrodden and impoverished can make a better life for themselves and their families. With open borders we can’t retain our exceptionalism, and we’ll be unable to help anyone, including Americans (consider the cancelling of schools in New York to house immigrants). Immigrants who’ve fled tyranny will, as Thomas Jefferson noted, “bring with them the principles of the governments they leave…” Since many develop habits of thought and behavior influenced by the despotism they were under, assimilation to living as free citizens becomes crucial.
Kevin Portteus, professor at Hillsdale College, argues that citizens of a republic must possess, at bare minimum, two qualities to keep their liberty: respect for the rights of others and manliness (i.e., respect for one’s own rights). The latter quality is controversial now, but the basic idea is that if one would keep their rights, they must be willing to defend them.
In the Declaration of Independence; the fifth grievance is that King George “has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.”
The word “manly” carried a moral dimension; it meant brave, resolute, noble, courteous; the Declaration recognized the representatives in America who had the courage to stand against and resist the tyranny of the King of England. If all men are created equal – as the Declaration asserts, and more importantly, the Bible teaches – then “the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.”
In other words, there isn’t an inherent right to rule for some while the majority are born to servitude. Essential to liberty, this manly spirit explains why there was such pushback in America to Covid vaccine mandates. This isn’t an argument against the vaccine, my point is that free adult citizens have the right to decide what medications to put in their bodies; they won’t, and shouldn’t just shut up and do what they are told. When the government started to force vaccines on citizens, many Americans opposed “with manly firmness.”
People who come from tyrannies often lack this manliness, remaining servile, because they grew up with no rights – not learning how to live responsibly without coercion.
Too many people lacking manliness – immigrants or American citizens – will lead to the loss of our liberty.
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.