The US melting pot...

In response to a proposed letter-to-the-editor (included below) to a newspapers that wondered why people come the US and wish to keep their culture and beliefs. Wonders why they do not want to assimilate that they did in the early 1900’s on Elise Island. And thinks this is wrong and that if you come to the US, shut up and fit the mould. First, they ask why it was not actually published, why?
A decent newspaper would not print this because it they have what we up north would call morals. You may mask you bigotry in patriotism, believe that the US at the turn of the 20th century was the same Jack-boot it is now at the turn of the 21st century. For that is the same of what has been lost in the American Dream.
You mention melting pot...you may not have ever cooked, but when you make a stew, everyone brings something; that is what makes the flavour, strengthens the mean. When you insist that everyone bring nothing and can only drink the Kool-Aid (Sorry for mixing metaphors) you weakening the nation.
The Statue of Liberty was given to the US by France because it saw Liberty, Freedom and opportunity. Does anyone out there believe one today would do such a thing...the US has lost its moral compass, the high ground. People immigrate to the US because they are brain-washed by the TV (American’s biggest export) that the dream is alive; when they get here they see it is dead.
They come here, at great effort, expense and risk. Think about it, do you think they would really want to retain they traditions if they say the US you imagine. They come here and worry that they will become the soulless, greed-drive, pride-before-the-fall, arrogant products of your assimilation-pot.
The difference between the people of Elise Island and today is the people then came and saw something better, now they come and see something worse.
America can be, has been, a great nation deserving the respect and admiration. The gift of the Statue of Liberty is proof of that. But it is lost and falling into a pit of religious backwardness and empirical hubris; Iraq has shown that. Think about it, on Sept 12, 2001, the entire world was with you, EVEN IRAN! By Sept 12, 2003 she was alone and isolated.
As a Canadian, I am your friend. The people, the regular everyday people are the same as me (less hockey maybe) and in spite of see the world differently we have always been each others most honest and trusted friend, like roommates living in the same continent (sorry Mexico, you never seem to click). But now you are just plain embarrassing to be around. Your bad reputation is ruining our own. Because of our little Bush (Our Current Prime-minister “Stevy” Harper”) who used your President as a role model, bag-packers no longer can use our flag, like you have not be able to use your own for decades.
In spite of how your elites and politicians treat you, you’re not a stupid people; you are being lied too, constantly and with your knowledge. Why do you put up with it? For evil to succeed, good men need do nothing.

(Below the original letter-to-the-editor, i believe unpublished. Source, a mailinglist i am on)

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr.Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer.
Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.
They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.
Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.
And here we are in 2006 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about.
I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.
And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
(signed) Rosemary LaBonte