Bryan Fischer
McCain: On immigration, you're no Teddy Roosevelt
By Bryan Fischer
Many Christians — and I count myself among them — believe that each nation has a redemptive calling from God, and that part of America's calling is to be a refuge for people from around the world hungering to breathe the fresh air of freedom and opportunity.
Central to fulfilling that redemptive purpose is that refugees who come to our shores must become one with the American people by embracing our Judeo-Christian values, our language, our literature, our history and our heroes.
If America is to continue to fulfill its God-given destiny and calling, newcomers to our shores must internalize the values that made them welcome in the first place so that more may be welcomed — and assimilated — into American life.
This is in line with the fundamental view of Christian society found in the New Testament, in which our foundational unity is a far more important thing than our diversity.
As the great apostle put it, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28)."
If we welcome newcomers, but do not insist that they assimilate into our culture, or we allow them to refuse to assimilate, we will rapidly begin to fracture and polarize as a nation, and lose our ability to realize the unique destiny to which God has called the United States.
This brings us to Sen. John McCain's appearance today before a notoriously racist organization.
Over the weekend, Sen. John McCain said the following:
"I count myself as a conservative Republican, yet I view it to a large degree in the Theodore Roosevelt mold."
Here is an excerpt from Sen. John McCain's scheduled address today to the National Conference of La Raza (literally "National Conference of The Race"), a blatantly and unrepentantly racist organization no different in principle than the Ku Klux Klan:
"I took my lumps for it (amnesty legislation) without complaint. My campaign was written off as a lost cause. I did so not just because I believed it was the right thing to do for Hispanic Americans. It was the right thing to do for all Americans.
"I do ask for your trust that when I say, I remain committed to fair, practical and comprehensive immigration reform, I mean it. I think I have earned that trust."
"Comprehensive immigration reform," of course, is just politician-speak for "amnesty," under which immigrants would be rewarded for illegal behavior and would not be expected to assimilate in any way into American culture.
Let's see how Sen. McCain's view of immigration stacks up next to the view of his idol, Teddy Roosevelt.
Here are excerpts from the speeches and writings of Roosevelt on the subject of immigration:
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American.
"If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as an American.
"We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, and American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul [sic] loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people." ~ TR, January 3, 1919
"This is a nation — not a polyglot boarding house. There is not room in the country for any 50-50 American, nor can there be but one loyalty — to the Stars and Stripes." ~ TR, May 27, 1918
"The effort to keep our citizenship divided against itself by the use of the hyphen and along the lines of national origin is certain to breed a spirit of bitterness and prejudice and dislike between the great bodies of our citizens.
"If some citizens band together as German-Americans or Irish-Americans, then after a while others are certain to band together as English-Americans or Scandinavian-Americans, and every such banding together, every attempt to make for political purposes a German-American alliance or a Scandinavian-American alliance, means down at the bottom an effort against the interest of straight-out American citizenship, an effort to bring into our nation the bitter Old World rivalries and jealousies and hatreds." ~ TR, Spring 1916
"Let us say to the immigrant not that we hope he will learn English, but that he has got to learn it. Let the immigrant who does not learn it go back. He has got to consider the interest of the United States or he should not stay here. He must be made to see that his opportunities in this country depend upon his knowing English and observing American standards ... We must insist upon his showing the same standard of fealty to this country and to join with us in raising the level of our common American citizenship." TR, February 1, 1916
Bottom line: Americans who care about our national motto, E Pluribus Unum ("Out of many, one") and who believe that part of God's redemptive calling on the United States is to forge refugees from around the world into one harmonious society gathered around common ideals, could only hope that McCain's views on immigration would line up with those of his idol. But alas, they do not.
A President McCain would contribute singlehandedly to the Balkanization and further fracturing of America. His America would increasingly become divided along racial, ethnic and linguistic lines, and he would shatter the rule of law in the process by insisting on a guaranteed path to legal residency and citizenship as a positive reward for those who have broken our immigration laws.
Perhaps it's time for Sen. McCain to be reminded of the words of the first and perhaps greatest Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who in turn was quoting the founder of Christianity: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Voters looking for a president who will be a unifier rather than a divider won't find it in either of the two major candidates for the Oval Office. Conservatives who believe in the principles contained in the Republican Party platform can only wonder in amazement that the party has drifted so far from its moorings that a candidate like Sen. McCain could win his party's nomination.
Townhall.com::McCain: I've earned Hispanics' trust
snopes.com: Theodore Roosevelt on Immigration
© Bryan Fischer
Many Christians — and I count myself among them — believe that each nation has a redemptive calling from God, and that part of America's calling is to be a refuge for people from around the world hungering to breathe the fresh air of freedom and opportunity.
Central to fulfilling that redemptive purpose is that refugees who come to our shores must become one with the American people by embracing our Judeo-Christian values, our language, our literature, our history and our heroes.
If America is to continue to fulfill its God-given destiny and calling, newcomers to our shores must internalize the values that made them welcome in the first place so that more may be welcomed — and assimilated — into American life.
This is in line with the fundamental view of Christian society found in the New Testament, in which our foundational unity is a far more important thing than our diversity.
As the great apostle put it, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28)."
If we welcome newcomers, but do not insist that they assimilate into our culture, or we allow them to refuse to assimilate, we will rapidly begin to fracture and polarize as a nation, and lose our ability to realize the unique destiny to which God has called the United States.
This brings us to Sen. John McCain's appearance today before a notoriously racist organization.
Over the weekend, Sen. John McCain said the following:
"I count myself as a conservative Republican, yet I view it to a large degree in the Theodore Roosevelt mold."
Here is an excerpt from Sen. John McCain's scheduled address today to the National Conference of La Raza (literally "National Conference of The Race"), a blatantly and unrepentantly racist organization no different in principle than the Ku Klux Klan:
"I took my lumps for it (amnesty legislation) without complaint. My campaign was written off as a lost cause. I did so not just because I believed it was the right thing to do for Hispanic Americans. It was the right thing to do for all Americans.
"I do ask for your trust that when I say, I remain committed to fair, practical and comprehensive immigration reform, I mean it. I think I have earned that trust."
"Comprehensive immigration reform," of course, is just politician-speak for "amnesty," under which immigrants would be rewarded for illegal behavior and would not be expected to assimilate in any way into American culture.
Let's see how Sen. McCain's view of immigration stacks up next to the view of his idol, Teddy Roosevelt.
Here are excerpts from the speeches and writings of Roosevelt on the subject of immigration:
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American.
"If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as an American.
"We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, and American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house; and we have room for but one soul [sic] loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people." ~ TR, January 3, 1919
"This is a nation — not a polyglot boarding house. There is not room in the country for any 50-50 American, nor can there be but one loyalty — to the Stars and Stripes." ~ TR, May 27, 1918
"The effort to keep our citizenship divided against itself by the use of the hyphen and along the lines of national origin is certain to breed a spirit of bitterness and prejudice and dislike between the great bodies of our citizens.
"If some citizens band together as German-Americans or Irish-Americans, then after a while others are certain to band together as English-Americans or Scandinavian-Americans, and every such banding together, every attempt to make for political purposes a German-American alliance or a Scandinavian-American alliance, means down at the bottom an effort against the interest of straight-out American citizenship, an effort to bring into our nation the bitter Old World rivalries and jealousies and hatreds." ~ TR, Spring 1916
"Let us say to the immigrant not that we hope he will learn English, but that he has got to learn it. Let the immigrant who does not learn it go back. He has got to consider the interest of the United States or he should not stay here. He must be made to see that his opportunities in this country depend upon his knowing English and observing American standards ... We must insist upon his showing the same standard of fealty to this country and to join with us in raising the level of our common American citizenship." TR, February 1, 1916
Bottom line: Americans who care about our national motto, E Pluribus Unum ("Out of many, one") and who believe that part of God's redemptive calling on the United States is to forge refugees from around the world into one harmonious society gathered around common ideals, could only hope that McCain's views on immigration would line up with those of his idol. But alas, they do not.
A President McCain would contribute singlehandedly to the Balkanization and further fracturing of America. His America would increasingly become divided along racial, ethnic and linguistic lines, and he would shatter the rule of law in the process by insisting on a guaranteed path to legal residency and citizenship as a positive reward for those who have broken our immigration laws.
Perhaps it's time for Sen. McCain to be reminded of the words of the first and perhaps greatest Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who in turn was quoting the founder of Christianity: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Voters looking for a president who will be a unifier rather than a divider won't find it in either of the two major candidates for the Oval Office. Conservatives who believe in the principles contained in the Republican Party platform can only wonder in amazement that the party has drifted so far from its moorings that a candidate like Sen. McCain could win his party's nomination.
Townhall.com::McCain: I've earned Hispanics' trust
snopes.com: Theodore Roosevelt on Immigration
© Bryan Fischer
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