Calexico, here we come!

George Rebane

One of the least pleasing of my predictions for the next twenty years is the demise of the United States as a democratic republic (see 'Two Twenty-Year Views' ).  Peering into the foggy future, I see our country transforming itself into a loosely formed confederacy, this conclusion is due to a number of geo-political forces working us in that direction.  Recently, this thesis received some more confirmation with Kosovo’s declaration of independence that is being hailed by the international community save Russia and, of course, Serbia from which the breakaway occurred.  The fact that our own government is celebrating this cleaving portends badly for our own future as a sovereign nation-state.

A correspondent in the 3mar08 Wall Street Journal put it very succinctly –

Regarding your editorial "The Birth of Kosovo" (Feb. 19): In 2025 or 2030 or 2035 or whenever, Latinos will constitute the majority of the population in California, Texas, New Mexico and whatever other state.

At that time, reflecting the democratic will of the majority, leaders of the Latino community will appeal to the United Nations and demand that the world body recognize California, Texas, New Mexico and whatever other state as independent countries. A vote in the U.N. will legitimize this demand over the vehement protestations of the U.S. and on July 3, 2025, or whenever, California, Texas, etc., will unilaterally declare their sovereignty.
Russia and other countries will immediately extend diplomatic recognition to the new states whereupon in Washington excited mobs will burn down the Russian embassy in protest. 

You say it's an implausible and ridiculous scenario? Think Kosovo.

As if to underline the long-festering mood in our own southwest, a series of pictures along with the report of a large group of Latino students raising the Mexican flag at southern California’s Montebello High School is now circulating on the internet.  What made this portentous celebration even more sinister was their placement of Old Glory, upside down, under the Mexican flag.  For the civics-challenged, Old Glory flown upside down is our historical distress signal. 

The politically correct mainstream media did not want to touch this incident with a ten-footer - after all, aren’t we multi-cultural and inclusive?  My usual reaction is to check such reports out with Snopes.com, one of the web’s rumor control and verification sites.  Here is what they reported.  For those readers not familiar with major national trends, a perusal of ethnic advocacy organizations such as MALDEF and La Raza is recommended as a start.

Comments

[Russ]

George,

It was a few years ago that I read Victor Davis Hanson's Mexifornia, A state of Becoming. He describes the current processes that are under way in California, but can be applied to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as well. One of the most disturbing chapters was on the influence the La Raza groups who where dictating the academic catalog of courses in Colleges and Universities. There was over sixty different Chicano related studies courses at UC Santa Barbara alone in 2001-2002. La Raza professors are teaching the young intellectuals they have a right to the lands along the Mexican boarder, when at the same time they are dumbing down the elementary and high school curriculum to guarantee the failure of the current and new migrants, so they can be easily manipulated into a rebel army willing to smash the infrastructure, allowing the La Raza elite can take control.

If readers are interesting in developing some understanding of the issues, I highly recommend Hanson's Mexifornia. Hansen is more than an academic, he has "walked the walk" and knows what he is talking about, having grown up in the Central Valley on the family farm and taught at UCSF. But, be prepared to be upset. Without taking some direct action now, the situation you described will come to pass sooner, rather then later. Hanson offers some options for action, but as a nation we lack the political will to enable them, so we will continue down a political path to an American Kosovo someday in our future.

[George Rebane]

It seems that how we respond/react to such news often depends on where we live. I reprint a couple of emails that I received re this post. The first is from a local correspondent living in the west. The second, to whom I sent a response, is from the east coast.
***
George, You are right on! The next step is to stem the tide as it will not take 2050...or 2025 as the WSJ writer was stating to find ourselves "in" Calexico--it's here--but simply not acknowledged to any detail other than snippets in the news.

***
An interesting piece, George, but I think equating a nation with as much history and patriotic pride as the U.S. with Kosovo, a former Balkan/Austro-Hungarian Empire province is a bit of a stretch. A big stretch. Also, it's been a long time since I've been alarmed by the cosmic implications of a demonstration by high school teenagers such as those at Montebello.

(and my response)

I don’t think you folks back east see the daily expressions of Latino “patriotic pride” that we who live in the former Mexican territories do. But I believe the equating with Kosovo will happen as inevitably as tomorrow’s sunrise, although delayed a mite. In any event, the first nationwide public notice of this will come as bit of a shock precisely because your assessment is so widely held, especially by the mainstream media. In the interval, I will try to bend you to this view (or its more detailed criticism) by forwarding to you some of the statements made by Latino leaders when they are talking to their own folks – sort of what our (here and worldwide) Muslim leaders tell their flocks in their mosques and what they say on the 6 o’clock news.

[Douglas Keachie]

Former Mexican Territories?

The first Spanish settlers arrived in 1779. Around the 1820's they became Mexican. They were here in numbers less than 200,000 by the time the US took over, less than 30 years later. Most of the land was never even visited by Mexicans, let alone settled by them. There were no Mexican land grants in Nevada County, ever.

You really want to stop Mexicans? Bring the troops home and pay Americans a fair share of the pie. Otherwise, you are creating your own future as you have pictured it.

[Douglas Keachie]

Of course, as my wife points out, Kurtzweil has already hypothecated smart robots made cheaply enough to completely negate the need for Mexicans. In which case we need to carefully, carefully, think about the tools and subject matter we give our kids. Of utmost importance, we need to have them thinking about things on this metalevel, above current education and next week's paycheck.

Future Shock is now going into hyperlight quantum drive. Saying nothing about this to our children, is criminal child neglect. I suspect that what the computer and cell phone have done to culture over the last 20 years will happen even more intensely with the ever newer advances to come.

I have a classic article in PC Magazine with Bill Gates and Jerry Pournelle discussing the next "Big Thing" in 1993. Was it the Internet? Not hardly. Even these seers of the future only came up with "hand writing recognition." If those two couldn't predict the Internet (and Gates wasn't being coy, it took him 5 years to catch up) a year or two in advance, what can't we predict now?

You yourself have mentioned the new diagnostic machines/computers which will reduce heath carecosts, maybe. A wolverine, whoda guessed? what additional wolverines will show up in our near future? Solar power invented and patented by, the Arabs? Wouldn't that be ironic?