Thomas Sowell: "An Ugly Reality"

Writing in Townhall today, Thomas Sowell nails it on the head in his description of the anti-American protesters supposedly seeking to gain legal status in the United States.

Somebody must have told them that their Mexican flags that dominated the earlier marches were not making a good impression on television, so they started flying American flags. But such cosmetic changes did not keep the ugly reality from coming through in their hostile speeches.

These were not the speeches of people who wanted to join American society but people who wanted their own turf on American soil -- in disregard and defiance of what American citizens want.

Previous millions of immigrants have come to our shore to find freedom and opportunity. Of necessity in that quest was a willingness by immigrants to throw off their burdens of nationality and culture and to assume a new identity--an American identity.

This generaion of immigrants has no intention of becoming Americans. They want to remain cultural foreigners on American ground. We desperately need new immigrants with a desire to be Americans. However, if all we can get are foreigners seeking the benefits of our society without a willingness to shoulder the costs, not only do we gain nothing, we lose a great deal.