I recently came across a letter to the editor published in the Town Line newspaper from China, Maine, and headlined, “Are we on a path to national suicide?” That letter lead me to the book — “The Path to National Suicide: An Essay on Immigration and Multiculturalism” by Lawrence Auster, as well as Pat Buchanan’s opinion piece “Race Matters in Immigration Debate.”

Auster wrote: “Due to liberal ideology, our borders were opened in 1965, and the resulting transformation of America’s ethnic composition helped fuel the ideology of multiculturalism which ultimately means the end of America as a nation.” Buchanan echoed this sentiment when he claimed America has the sovereign right to discriminate in favor of some continents, countries and cultures to protect its national unity and national character.

All three sources express the ideology that we are on the path to national suicide if we don’t limit immigration to white Christian nations. Buchanan claims the majority of Americans in 2050 will come from every race, color, religion and culture in the world — and that the country then would no longer have a national character or unity. The fate of America’s vanishing white Christian majority would be sealed.

Immigration opponents, especially within the last few years, have claimed America has the right to limit immigration to predominately white Christian countries, a position used to justify the nation’s current racially and religiously discriminatory immigration policy. Immigration opponents also fear an increase in crime, even though immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born Americans.

However, we are in many ways a nation of immigrants, people who came here for opportunity, worked hard and helped build the nation we have today. Limiting immigration seems to be a solution in search of a problem.

First and foremost, America’s national unity and character are not dependent on what country its people came from, their cultural practices, religion or skin color. What has always made America great — and why it never has to be made great again — is the U.S. Constitution. Under the Constitution, at least theoretically, everyone is equal under the law.

The Constitution also protects everyone’s religious beliefs or secular principles through the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment. That clause grants everyone the religious freedom to believe what they want but grants no one the religious privilege to do as they please. These legal and religious protections provided by the Constitution form the bedrock of American democracy and ensure, if followed, that everyone who is born here or immigrates to this country have equal legal and religious freedoms — as long as exercising those freedoms doesn’t infringe on someone else’s rights.

According to Buchanan, the Democratic Party poses a threat to America as well. He claims in past presidential elections “persons of color whose roots are in Asia, Africa and Latin America voted 4-1 Democratic, and against the candidates favored by America’s vanishing White majority.” Buchanan also claimed that if immigration from these areas continues it will mean the demographic death of the GOP.

If that claim is true for the GOP then it is true for any political party that doesn’t listen to or meet the needs of the majority of voters.

Citing the death of the Republican Party has a deeper meaning though — the death of the “traditional American power structure,” i.e., America’s vanishing white majority. To preserve that power structure, some politicians are using voter suppression, gerrymandering congressional districts, and unlimited, unaccountable financial contributions to political candidates.

So are we on the path to national suicide? I think not, as long as the nation follows the Constitution that grants personal freedom to everyone and individual license to no one.

Problems arise when those in power interpret the Constitution as a license for those aligned with their religious and/or political views to do as they please.

Tom Waddell is president of the Maine Chapter of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. He can be reached at: president@ffrfmaine.org

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