Friday, March 02, 2007

The need to secure our borders...

I put aside the mysteries, the comedies, and the fluff in favor of non-fiction this month. Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo's In Mortal Danger: The Battle for America's Border and Security ought to be on everyone's 'must read' list.


"The greatest threat in our nation today does not come from invasion by foreign soldiers but rather from internal decay, a loss of identity, and a de-emphasis on the value of American citizenship." (page 193)

"I firmly believe that we must reaffirm the principles of citizenship and of American identity if we are to survive as a free people in the twenty-first century. This comes not from a fear of immigration. As a son of immigrants, I welcome and support immigration. What worries me is that the nation our new immigrants seek to find at the end of their journey may not be the nation of their dreams and grand ambitions. If we are to remain true to our history, we must also remain true to our destiny. Our destiny is not to be a vague, confusing collection of ethnic groups or religious sects, but rather is a continuation of the land of freedom and opportunity, the world's beacon of hope for all who are oppressed." (page 183)

"Citizenship should be as important to Americans as it was to the ancient Romans. In every sense, citizenship is a set of rights (voting, equal protection under the laws, etc) and responsibilities (draft registry, jury duty, etc). But at its core, citizenship is about belonging. It is an allegiance you owe to your nation and an allegiance your nation owes to you. Citizenship is more than residency; it is more than an address, it's more than an electric bill. It's part of who we are and a source of pride. Much more than the value of citizenship is lost when we abandon our national heritage. And when you take away a belief that it is something special to be an American, something else can--and likely will--fill the void."(page 194)

"I'm 100 percent Italian, but I would no more cast my vote for another American of Italian ethnicity simply because he or she was Italian than I would cast my vote blindly. For me, a candidate for office should represent my views, not my hues."(page 32)

"If our goal is to remain a United States of America, we must first be a united people of America."(page 33)

"We must know who we are. What places us in mortal danger is a lack of that knowledge. We apparently know little about our enemy while we, at the same time, struggle with an identity crisis of our own, which has been brought on by decades of politically correct propaganda being spewed out by the cult of multiculturalism. The problem is exacerbated by the massive infusion of millions of immigrants who come here without any desire to leave behind their old allegiances. And they are encouraged by the cult to avoid assimilation into what is left of the last bastion of Western civilization, a unique concept called America." (page 76)

"The lives of ranchers...have been radically altered in the last decade because their own government has repeatedly failed to protect them and their land from invasion. And invasion is exactly the proper term for what's occurring."(page 178)

And then this excerpt from a speech given by Teddy Roosevelt in 1912.
"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the man who puts "native" before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance."(page 196)

Labels:

2 Comments:

Blogger woof nanny said...

Thank you for your comment, Jeff. Your name doesn't link to your blog or your email, or I would visit you back :). Thanks so much for reading my blog though.

7:24 AM  
Blogger Not quite the Bradys said...

Just stumbled here from some other blog. Love this! Thank you for including that quote from Teddy Roosevelt in this post. More people need to be made aware of what is happening.

8:12 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home