Restoring America is running a new kind of think tank series, “The Right Way Forward,” which does not ask conservatives to speak as a chorus but to argue in earnest over the defining questions of the post-Trump conservative movement.
In May, leading conservative think tanks squared off on the role of the state in the economy. The second installment of this project asks conservatives to confront what American identity is today — and how that answer applies to various policies.
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The question
For generations, immigrants arrived in America knowing they were joining a country with a distinct character rooted in a set of ideals and values. They knew that there was an expectation of assimilation, and this was something they generally understood and embraced. But today, the American creed and America’s cultural heritage are openly repudiated on the Left as a rationalization for historical oppression.
The consequences have been profound. Assimilation has been recast as cultural erasure. Hyphenated identities have replaced or are replacing the common American one. And a generation of immigrants has been actively encouraged to maintain ethnic loyalties while regarding American identity with suspicion rather than pride.
Meanwhile, on the Right, there is significant tension over the fundamental nature of American identity. Is America primarily a creedal nation, rooted in the ideals of the Declaration of Independence? Or is it a nation shaped by a specific cultural and civilizational inheritance?
Here’s what the experts had to say. Click through to read their full pieces for the Washington Examiner:
Pluralism is our strength
The naturalization oath should be our North Star
By Luma Simms, Ethics and Public Policy Institute
When taking the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance, immigrants make a solemn vow to “renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which [they] have heretofore been a subject or citizen.”
On its face, this is usually taken to mean that the immigrant will not commit treason. However, renouncing fidelity to whom, and what, one was subject to before, and espousing — as the oath goes on to say — faith and allegiance to the United States and its Constitution, means a change in mind and heart, not just outward action.
The few, the proud, the vetted
By David P. Deavel, University of St. Thomas in Houston
Immigration is good when it is legal immigration, it is not mass immigration, it is controlled, it doesn’t overwhelm American communities and infrastructure, and it doesn’t create massive changes in culture.
Becoming an American: How to fix the legal immigration system
Whatever American policy on immigration is in the future, it will be seen as “good” only if these conditions are met. When they are not, Americans will again think that immigration must be reduced or even ended.
Deportation is key to fixing our broken immigration system
Andrew Arthur, Center for Immigration Studies
Without deportation, DHS is at best an endless benefits machine for any alien with the resources and inclination to come here, legally or otherwise, and any true sense of U.S. sovereignty, public safety, and national security is gone.
Rescuing trafficked children shouldn’t be controversial. It is
Chad Wolf and Tony Pham, America First Policy Institute
Those who regularly describe themselves as champions of human dignity and defenders of so-called “undocumented” aliens should welcome efforts to identify children who have fallen into abusive situations, rather than reflexively opposing such measures simply because they are carried out by ICE.