Most immigrants to America are socially conservative, and when they come to America they are faced with a dilemma. The places that welcome them do not have their social values. The places that have their social values do not welcome them. So they have to choose either being surrounded by people who hate them or being surrounded by people they hate.
Washington Times stated that the inner city culture, far from being genuine, is in fact an outgrowth of white Southern culture. It called them “black rednecks.” The similarities in those cultures – violence, abuse of women, and anti-intellectual mentality – makes the inner city black people more similar to the Southern whites than to the Northern whites. The white rednecks drive around with signs “My son beat up your honor student.” The black rednecks think that students who take school seriously “think they’re better than everyone else” or are “acting white.” The white rednecks like to beat their wives. The black rednecks like to go around slapping hos. It appears that some in these places have noticed that, and I’ve seen integrated gangs consisting of black and white rednecks.
If the conservatives are smart, they will do more to reach out to the immigrants and the blacks. Socially, these people have more in common with them than they do with the Democrats, and if they are not being discriminated against or mistreated they would be willing to join them. On this the conservatives can take the example of Republican Abraham Lincoln, who bowed to a black woman in Richmond after the Civil War. I have seen some of this being done in Houston, and other conservative places in America stand to benefit from this approach. This will do away with bigotry, which is wrong, while preserving other conservative values that have merit and while increasing the appeal of conservatism to people who otherwise wouldn’t consider it.
When Reagan welcomed Soviet Jews, who were moderate to conservative, into America, it was a brilliant political move. These people went into American Jewish communities, which are mostly liberal, and influenced them to the Right. Of course the influence is a two-way street, and these people were influenced by Jewish liberals as well. That influence has been for the better. I have seen Jewish people from Russia, including my father, improve the way in which they treated their children and develop a more enlightened perspective than they otherwise would have had.
As for the Democrats, they should do more to reach out to Olympia Snowe Republicans. These are people who have been yuppies, many of them are women, and most of them are socially libertarian. These people are enterprising, competent and intelligent, and they are not in favor of Republicans controlling their personal behavior or telling them that the woman must obey the man. They stand to improve the Democratic Party while, among the Democrats, finding people who respect them and share their social values.
Probably the best un-tried approach to fix the American inner city is to invite more African immigrants into America. These people stand to influence the inner-city blacks correctly. They have seen real hardship, and they are willing to be patriotic, to work hard and to follow the law. They know that taking school seriously is not “acting white” and that the gang culture is not the genuine African culture. They stand to get these people to appreciate what they have in America while also showing by their behavior that being black does not have to mean being a black redneck.
The rednecks, in their turn, need to see where they are shooting themselves in the foot. When they attack intelligence and ambition in their youth, they render themselves non-competitive. They destroy the best of what comes out of their culture, leading people who don’t do such a thing in their youth to out-compete them. They blame the Jews or the liberals; they should be blaming themselves. You destroy your best minds, you put yourself at a disadvantage against people who do not do such a thing.
All of these places are going to continue to exist. The question is, in what form? I want to see every place become the best place that it can be. And that means, first of all, fixing their errors.