Quebec can bring the Canadian confederation to the brinknof disintegration even though France lies an entire oceannaway, should there not at least arise a certain reflectivenessnabout our own Southwest, which lies contiguous to annoverpopulated Third World nation?nThe inchoate fear that immigrants are not assimilating isnnot without a degree of justification. While rates of Hispanicnassimilation are probably at an all-time high, so too is thenexpansion of an impoverished immigrant underclass. Thendichotomy must not be overlooked or downplayed. Thoughnits significance can in fact be exaggerated, the rioting begunnby Salvadoran aliens in the Mount Pleasant neighborhoodnof Washington, D.C., in May 1991 certainly did nothing tonassuage concerns over this phenomenon. If similar riots havennot occurred in the Southwest, there is nonetheless a degreenof dangerous, slow-motion alienation to be found in skyrocketingnintra-ethnic gang fighting and other antisocialnactivity, parhcularly in California and Texas. The majoritarianncommunity is certainly not free of such pathologies, butndisproportionate levels of poverty tend to yield disproportionatenlevels of crime, and the fact remains that minoritiesnare disproportionately poor.nSeveral million inhabitants of the Southwest today arennot, in fact, citizens of this country. Whether or not theynhave attained legal status, the low rate of naturalizationnamong Hispanics can hardly be said to nurture assimilationnand national unity. The highly-skilled, well-paid worker on antemporary visa is one thing, but the increasing presence ofnvast numbers of low-skilled, low-income workers has in factn20/CHRON:CLESnLIBERAL ARTSnKEEPING UP WITH THEnJONESESnTo keep pace with the “sexual revolution,”nChina’s Family Planning Commissionnhas ordered production of 100nmillion additional condoms per year for antotal of one billion. The commissionnreceived complaints that “10 free contraceptivesna month for each adult nonlonger is adequate” for the “91 millionnChinese [who] receive free birth controlndevices as part of their work benefits.” AnChicago Tribune report last Januarynattributed increased demand to “thennation’s late-booming sexual revolution”nof premarital, extramarital, andnrecreational sex “partly imported fromnWestern culture.”nnnproduced ethnic enclaves and socioeconomic and politicalnalienation that can only yield resentment against the morenprosperous majoritarian community over time. Considernthat even immigrants and their first-generation childrenncomplain about “discrimination” today. Caught in thenmiddle are those citizens of Hispanic origin who are tryingnto respect the unwritten covenant of full membership in thenpolity in return for learning English and respecting the civicnculture of the country.nToday more than ever before, the American nation mustndraw the line between the inalienable right to enjoy annonmajoritarian ethnic heritage and the tendency to exaltnethnicity to the point of discrediting certain or all aspects ofnthe nation’s civic culture, none of which is more importantnthan the dominance of the English language in the conductnof public business. However greater in importance thenhistorical contributions of Hispanics and other ethnic groupsnmay grow, the civic culture of the United States mustnremain largely Anglo-Saxon. There is no inherent reasonnwhy Hispanics cannot or should not follow in the footstepsnof previous generations of European immigrants of Nordic,nTeutonic, and Mediterranean origin.nAll Americans, including ethnic minorities, should supportna color-blind, skill-based immigration policy because ofnthe threat that faces the Southwest and the entire nation innits continued absence. The loss of the common glue that hasnheld the nation together since the age of democraticnrevolutions in the 18th century would imply the disintegrationnof the republic itself. America would cease to benAmerica. It would deteriorate into something else, somethingnless desirable — not because its civic culture was nonlonger Anglo-Saxon, but because the erosion or toppling ofnthat Anglo-Saxon civic culture would, in the context of annew pluralist paradigm based upon the exaltation of ethnicitynabove citizenship, dissolve the United States in a witch’snbrew of contending, chaotic regions. We would becomenbalkanized.nIt is at that point that one of the greatest ironies in worldnhistory would materialize: along with the demise of thenAnglo-Saxon civic culture so often derided by those historicalnrevisionists who are indifferent to or supportive ofnever-greater levels of immigration to this country, America’snlong-standing and unparalleled attraction to the diversencultures of the globe would have died as well. The nation’sngreat and noble motto, “E pluribus unum” (“Out of many,none”) will then have deteriorated into “Every tribe fornitself.”nIn the end, instead of celebrating both the Thanksgivingnof the English Pilgrims and that of the Spanish Conquistadoresn— with the understanding that the Anglo-Saxon civicnculture of the nation must continue to reign supreme in theninterests of stability and prosperity for everyone — eachnregion of the former United States would then be free toncelebrate only that event and those historical figures whonreflected the dominant ethnicity of their region. (Instead ofnbeing taught both the glories of Shakespeare and those ofnCervantes, students would be forced to learn one or thenother.) Having reached that particular desideratum, thenmillions of inhabitants of the distinct nations in whichnPlymouth and El Paso would be located would havenprecious little for which to give thanks. <^n