Burning America: In the Best Interest of the Country? Preface

In recent times, astute observers of American society have noticed a profound transformation taking place within our government institutions, corporations, universities, and cultural landscape. It has become increasingly evident that certain changes have taken hold, with implications that cannot be ignored.  

We come across reports detailing the introduction of gender ideology in our schools, where young children are subjected to its influence. It is distressingly common to witness acts of violence, rioting, and looting on the streets of our major cities. 

Moreover, the economic stability of the American middle class appears to be on a perpetual decline. Meanwhile, the institutions tasked with safeguarding our rights, such as federal law enforcement agencies, have become deeply entangled in political agendas. 

Clearly, there exists a ruling class that governs our nation, guided by an ideology that poses a threat to the well-being of ordinary, hard-working Americans. To protect our cherished liberties from these radical ideologies, it becomes imperative to comprehend how these ideas emerged and spread over the past few decades, often in stark contrast to traditional American values and objectives. 

This undertaking serves as a means of reaching out to those who seek to understand the current state of their nation, to engage with the notion of a fading American citizenship. The US border has been porous and increasingly endangers the safety of Americans and leads to a declining American citizenry. We can learning from history. 

The Romans successfully integrated outsiders but no nation can long endure an invasion without a strong foundation for settlement. Here's an explanation of how the Roman Empire's interactions with "barbarians" led to assimilation and contributed to the legacy of Western institutions. 

The term "barbarian" was a blanket designation used by the Romans for various groups outside their borders. These included Germanic tribes, Huns, Goths, and others who possessed distinct cultures and ways of life. Relations between Rome and these groups were complex and evolved over time. There wasn't a single, massive invasion; rather, it was a centuries-long process of migration, conflict, and integration. 

The Roman army increasingly recruited from "barbarian" populations. These soldiers, known as foederati, often fought alongside Roman troops and could rise through the ranks. In exchange for service, they received Roman citizenship and land, leading to gradual integration. Whole tribes were sometimes granted permission to settle peacefully within Roman borders. This led to cultural exchange and the eventual adoption of Roman customs and language by most. 

Ambitious "barbarian" leaders sometimes secured high positions within the Roman military and political hierarchy. Some even rose to the level of emperor, demonstrating the potential for upward mobility within the system. The incorporation of "barbarians" invigorated Rome's declining military might, providing fresh fighting forces to protect the borders. 

"Barbarian" leaders who gained power within the Roman system established kingdoms that built upon Roman traditions and formed the bedrock of later medieval European states. Christianity spread among many of these "barbarian" tribes. The Roman Catholic Church, influenced by Roman administrative structures, became a unifying force in post-Roman Europe, preserving elements of Roman knowledge and culture. 

The Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as its capital, continued for centuries after the fall of the Western Empire. It maintained Roman traditions of law, governance, and culture, becoming a bridge between the ancient and medieval worlds. 

The relationship between Rome and the "barbarians" was intricate and multifaceted. While the fall of the Western Roman Empire is a pivotal moment in history, "barbarians" played an important role in ensuring aspects of Roman civilization, such as Christianity and legal traditions, continued to have a profound influence on the development of Western institutions.

Thomas Sowell’s Ethnic America (New York: Basic Books, 1981) remains a most profound and provocative response to the liberal view of ethnicity and race. In his introduction, Sowell provides a chart that ranks ethnic groups in terms of average family incomes (p.5) Average is 100, but several ethnic groups exceed the average:

Jewish 172

Japanese 132 

Polish 115

Chinese 112 

Italian 112 

German 107

Anglo-Saxon 107 

Irish 103

Other groups do not fare as well:

Filipino 99 

West Indian 94 

Mexican 76

Puerto Rican 63 

Black 62 

Native American 60 

In the American example, some immigrating groups assimilated well into America as some groups did during the Roman Empire. But Liberals, Sowell explicitly and implicitly asserts throughout the book, believe these ethnic differences are due solely to discrimination. But, Sowell wonders, how can this be if several ethnic groups that have experienced discrimination rank above and even far above the U.S. median income?

The reason, Sowell claims, is something that, in his other books he calls cultural capital. Cultural capital includes a strong work ethic, a stable family structure, and a propensity to save and invest rather than to consume. Roman barbarians had cultural capital that was advantageous to Rome and to themselves. But cultural capital also involves an understanding of the four paths to the upper middle class and above.

The first of these paths is politics, especially urban politics. This involves electing members of your ethnic group to offices, such as mayor, that can provide access to government jobs in police and fire departments, schools, and municipal services. Roman elites maintained their prestige by taking part of the Roman military, political, and land-owning class and handed on their power to their descendants. Irish-Americans have historically excelled in governmen, while African-Americans have been using this path since the 1960s. Political jobs offer security and good benefits, but they are seldom very remunerative.

Business ownership may be more risky, but the potential benefits greatly outweigh the costs. High percentages of Jews, Japanese, and Chinese have excelled here, although Sowell is well aware that members of all ethnic groups have succeeded in business.

Higher education, the third area, is perhaps the most dependable path to success. Again, it is the Jews and the Asian-Americans who have excelled the most here. Both Sowell’s supporters and his critics call these groups the model minorities, a term that Sowell himself does not use.

There is a fourth area - sports, music, and entertainment. Here, the results can be spectacular, but the odds for success are not good. Often, this is the area first available to ethnic Americans. Sowell knows this, but he issues a caveat anyway. Put your eggs in this basket, he is saying, and most likely they will break. Sowell is clearly delivering a message to members of his own ethnic group - African-Americans. I will make the case that the 1950s example of capitalism in baseball provided a path but unfortunately sports became almost the exclusive path for African-Americans to the detriment of other more possible and lucrative paths. 

By now, Sowell’s argument is clear: the liberals are wrong. All ethnic groups have faced discrimination - some more than others, Sowell acknowledges—but it is really cultural capital that accounts for the income differences among ethnic groups. Sowell clearly suggests that entrepreneurship and higher education are the best paths to success. It is not surprising that he sees reliance on the federal government as the worst of the legal paths to success. While he in no way supports discrimination, he believes that pooling resources with members of your own family and ethnic group is a better way of starting a business than going to court and claiming you were denied a loan due to your ethnic or racial background. Even better, start your own bank within your own ethnic group. Eventually, you can start your own country clubs if the WASP country clubs will not accept you.

Naturally, liberals find Sowell’s ideas anathema. While most liberals would not quibble with the importance of cultural capital, liberals believe European and Asian ethnic groups have faced far less discrimination than other ethnic Americans. Assertive affirmative action policies and strong federal government action, liberals believe, are necessary to assure ethnic equality. The failure of these liberal policies are evident by the degeneration from the goal of liberal equality to the discriminatory aim of progressive equity. 

In short, and based on the work of Sowell, the historical example of the Romans has not been followed in the last several decades by the Americans and is now coupled with the disaster on the Southern border. American citizenship and the heritage of the Greco-Roman inheritance of citizenship has been swept aside since 1965. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart-Celler Act, has significantly altered immigration into America and has profound implications for American citizenship. Before 1965, immigration to the US was heavily based on a system that favored immigrants from culturally compatible countries. Instead, the law prioritized family reunification. While the act initially set an annual cap, family reunification provisions led to a significant increase in overall immigration numbers in the decades that followed.

The Border Patrol may be able to handle 1,000 illegals a day, because anything more than that overwhelms the system. Recently, apprehensions have averaged nearly 7,000 per day. On the other hand, the Trump administration had brought apprehensions down to between 800 and 1,500 a day in his final year in office, the lowest numbers in 45 years. In 2022, Biden's daily average was 6,575. In 2023, there were three million apprehensions, a daily average of 8,219. Entering 2024, apprehensions were up to 12,000 to 15,000 per day. 

Illegal immigration has become a tsunami and the hidden reality is even worse, because these numbers do not include the people who entered the U.S. illegally without being apprehended—sometimes referred to as “gotaways”—a number the Border Patrol can only estimate. That estimate is two million, bringing the three-year total of illegal immigrants to ten million—a number equivalent to the population of Greater London or Greater Chicago. 

These are internationally incompatible with American culture: 45 percent come from 170 countries outside the traditional origin countries of Mexico and Central America. Many are unaccompanied minors: 448,000 to date. More than 330 people, as of November 2023, are on the FBI’s terrorist watch list. Many are murderers, rapists, kidnappers, and violent criminals. More than a million have been lawfully ordered deported by judges in the U.S. but remain in our country regardless. The dismissal by the executive branch of our government of hundreds of thousands of cases of immigration law violations is unprecedented. 

We know that the initial financial cost is high—$400 billion, by one estimate—to feed, house, clothe, and resettle the illegals who have been allowed to stay. Then there is the burden placed on public school districts that have no choice but to take in millions of new children who often speak no English and whose educations are not commensurate with those of their schoolmates. It is probably not coincidental that hospital systems across the nation have fallen deep into the red since the great mass migration crisis began. 

Expense, of course, is only one part of the equation in terms of impact. Public safety, criminal justice, and national security systems face unprecedented new burdens as the personal histories and criminal backgrounds of most of the millions allowed easy entry are unknown and, often, without documentation. The criminals increase the load on our already overburdened courts and prisons. Last but not least, this great influx will increase joblessness and put immense downward pressure on wages for American workers.

Within the following pages, we will delve into a range of topics that shed light on the plight of American citizenry in the post-Progressive era:  

The distinctions between the mid-century liberals and the radical elements that emerged in opposition to them; 

An exploration of how the post-sixties radicals ascended to positions of power within government bureaucracies and educational institutions;

A close examination of the principles of neoliberalism, which emerged in the late 1970s, and the ways in which these ideas transformed the moral and economic fabric of America;

An exploration of the underlying factors that led to what has been referred to as "The Great Awokening" during Barack Obama's second term, along with an examination of the ways in which the political and business elites embraced the cultural Left. 

By delving into these subjects, we aim to equip readers with a comprehensive understanding of the historical roots and contemporary manifestations of the ideologies that currently shape our nation. It is through this understanding that we can hope to navigate the complex terrain and preserve the fundamental principles that lie at the heart of our American identity.

This volume proposes to explain recent American history in a manner that encourages the respondent to discover the past first-hand through primary sources. Rather than having to rely on the opinion of another, including this author, the reader walks through history with a series of questions and answers; moreover, all the answers are based on solid, first-hand sources. As a result, the book is not about political right or left but right and wrong, in a passionate pursuit of what could summarize a Native American proverb: truth is a hard deer to hunt.

It's also worth noting that while the saying isn't a documented Native American proverb, it resonates with themes found in traditional oral stories from various tribes across North America. Concepts like respect for nature, understanding one's place in the world, and the importance of living honestly are often interwoven with metaphors and symbolism related to animals and the natural world. The summary proverb appears in the 1937 science fiction short story "By the Waters of Babylon" by Stephen Vincent Benét. 

To understand an American citizen's place in the world and to live honestly is the goal of many, and this volume will assist in that endeavor. The work can be read with profit alone or in combination with a reading group or a teacher.