AMERICA'S MOTTO
E pluribus unum - One from many
Traditional motto of the United States, appearing on the Great Seal and adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782.
The meaning of the phrase originates from the concept that out of the union of the original Thirteen Colonies emerged a new single nation. It is emblazoned across the scroll and clenched in the eagle’s beak on the Great Seal of the United States.
It was enacted while the Revolutionary War waged on with Washington's forces battling the supposedly invincible British military. This picture summarized the American effort.
The Spirit of '76
It became the motto of the United States and has taken on a broader meaning; the heart of our nation, the melting pot: from many peoples of diverse races, religions, ethnicities, geographic origins, we have been forged into one: the American.
THE MELTING POT
Webster's definition - melting pot. 1 a : a place where a variety of races, cultures, or individuals assimilate into a cohesive whole. b : the population of such a place. 2 : a process of blending that often results in invigoration or novelty. Emphasis added.]
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture... Historically, it is often used to describe the assimilation of immigrants to the United States. The melting-together metaphor was in use by the 1780s. The exact term 'melting pot' came into general usage in the United States after it was used as a metaphor describing a fusion of nationalities, cultures and ethnicities in the 1908 play of the same name. [Emphasis added.]
Theodore Roosevelt summarized the goal:
In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people. [Emphasis added.]
THE LEFT'S VIEW
But that is not how Al Gore sees it. To him America's motto E pluribus unum means out of one, many.
We can build a collective civic space large enough for all our separate identities, that we can be e pluribus unum -- out of one, many. http://gvn.tripod.com/algore.html
We should remember this is Al Gore of Algorisms infamy:
A zebra does not change its spots and We all know the leopard can’t change his stripes.
and
quoting an old proverb It's a wise father who knows his child. Actually, It's a wise child who knows its father.
But with e pluribus, Gore made a classic Freudian Slip.
[Freudian Slip: an act of saying something you do not mean to say that shows your hidden thoughts.]
As Bill Clinton's Vice President and a member in good standing of the Left, Gore said what he firmly believes "out of many, one" - dividing the one into the many for political gain. The Left promotes what Theodore Roosevelt abhorred. They do not want America to be a melting pot; they want divided allegiances which they can exploit.
Please forgive the following lengthy quote but author Joseph Farah has done a marvelous summary:
…it wasn’t just the misuse of a Latin term meaning 'out of many, one.' [Gore] was literally advocating the opposite – ‘out of one, many.’…exactly what 'progressives' are after – division of our nation, splitting people apart rather than pulling them together, pitting interest groups against each other, always creating new interest groups where none previously existed while claiming to be promoting new 'rights' based on the 'needs' or desires or fanciful whims of new constituent groups.The problem with all that is that it tears at the very fabric of the American experiment in national self-government and what it means to be one nation under the law….
Do you want to live in a nation where the laws apply to each individual equally, without respect to their color, sex, sexual practices, creed, ethnic background? Or do you prefer to live in a nation under the rule of men who maintain and build their power by handing out favors to an increasingly small number of special interest groups?’
The Democratic Party… believes in the latter. It’s the party of ‘victims.' It’s the party of endless wealth redistribution – taking from the achievers and using the money to buy votes in a hopelessly unsustainable model that can only result in absolute tyranny and misery for all.
There isn’t even any dissent allowed within that party. And soon, if it regains political power in Washington, there will be no dissent permitted anywhere. Just look at what they control now… - America’s largest cities suck the lifeblood out of the rest of the country. Many of them are killing fields, crime-infested wastelands with schools that indoctrinate, not educate. - College campuses where free speech, civility and education are just bourgeois relics of the past. - The judiciary, which doesn’t interpret the laws and the Constitution, but rewrites them to its liking. - The popular culture, which mocks the nation’s history and great institutions and achievements, not to mention its foundations in Judeo-Christian values. - The media, which is no longer content seeking the truth without fear or favor, but telling you what to think. No longer does the press act as a watchdog on bigger and less-accountable government, but rather as a lapdog.
…The left was ever so close in the last election to making their fundamental transformation permanent, irreversible, pounding the final nail in the coffin of the world’s greatest experiment in self-governance.
But we’re not out of the woods – not by a long shot. This battle between strikingly diverse worldviews will be with us until their ideas are entirely discredited among 80 to 90 percent of the public. And that’s going to take a long march through all of the territory under their occupation. [Emphasis added.]
IDENTITY POLITICS
The Left deal in identity politics
... Identity politics … the most important thing about us is that we are white, black, male, female, straight, gay, and so on. Within the identity-politics world, we do not need to give reasons … Because identity politics supposes that we are our identities, … consist ...in the calculation of resource redistribution based on identity — what in Democratic parlance is called social justice… In the 1960s, college students across the country fought so that repressed ideas would receive a fair hearing. These days, college students fight to repress all ideas except one: identity politics. [Emphasis added.]
Award winning cartoonist Chip Bok had this take:
and all time favorite Michael Ramirez summed it up, Divide and Conquer:
ARE MINORITIES VICTIMS?
In the late 1960s, Jesse Jackson was incessant in insisting that Blacks were oppressed victims.
I wondered if he were right. Maybe the opportunities, that were there when my grandparents arrived in this country in the last two decades of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th, weren' t there anymore.
Then the Vietnamees came. Often, they did not have more than the shirt on their backs. They couldn't speak the language. They were the wrong color. And they were hated because of the War.
It took them ten years. They learned the language. They became successful entrepreneurs. Their children starred in schools to the extent that other parents complained that the Vietnamese were taking all the honors!
Jesse Jackson was wrong. Opportunity was alive and well in the U. S. Hard work works! Yet he was partially right: Blacks were being victimized - by people like Jackson, the NACCP , the Left!
And Black spoke persons spelled out how the Left had destroyed the Black family and community; but they were ignored or, worse, vilified by the mass media.
AN EYE WITNESS VIEW
Another lengthy quote, but well worth reading.
Saturday, July 24th, 2010 Prescott Valley, AZ, hosted a Freedom Rally. Quang Nguyen was asked to speak on his experience of coming to America & what it means. He spoke the following in dedication to all Vietnam Veterans.
35 years ago, if you were to tell me I am going to stand up here speaking to 2,000 patriots, in English, I'd laugh at you. Man, every morning I wake up thanking God for putting me & my family in the greatest country on earth. I just want you all to know the American dream does exist & I am living the American dream.
I was asked to speak about my experience as a first generation Vietnamese-American, but I'd rather speak to you as an American. If you hadn’t noticed, I am not white ... I am a proud US citizen ... It took me 8 years to get it, waiting in endless lines, but I got it, & I am very proud of it.
I still remember the images of the Tet offensive in 1968, I was 6 years old. You might want to question how a 6-year-old boy could remember anything. Trust me, those images can never be erased. I can't imagine what it was like for young American soldiers, 10,000 miles away from home, fighting on my behalf.
35 years ago, I left S. Vietnam for political asylum... I was one of the first lucky 100,000 Vietnamese allowed to come to the U.S. .. If you haven't heard lately this is the greatest country on earth, I am telling you that right now. The freedom & the opportunities presented to me put me here with all of you tonight. I also remember the barriers I had to overcome every step of the way. My high school counselor told me I cannot make it to college due to poor communication skills. I proved him wrong. I finished college. All you have to do is give this little boy an opportunity & encourage him to take & run with it.
This person standing tonight in front of you could not exist under a socialist/ communist environment. By the way, if you think socialism is the way to go, I am sure many people here will chip in to get you a one-way ticket out of here. And if you don't know, the only difference between socialism & communism is an AK-47 aimed at your head. That was my experience.
In 1982, I stood with a thousand new immigrants, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance & listening to the National Anthem for the first time as an American. To this day, I can't remember anything sweeter & more patriotic than that moment in my life….
I had a nice job & a nice apartment in Southern California. Some way & somehow, I had forgotten how I got here & why I was here. One day at a gas station I saw a veteran pumping gas on the other side of the island. I don't know what made me do it, but I walked over & asked if he had served in Vietnam. He smiled & said yes. I shook & held his hand. This grown man's eyes began to well up. I walked away as fast as I could & at that very moment, I was emotionally rocked.
... I knew something had to change in my life. It was time for me to learn how to be a good citizen. It was time for me to give back. You see, America is not just a place on the map, it isn't just a physical location. It is an ideal, a concept, & if you are an American, you must understand the concept, you must accept this concept, & most importantly, you have to fight & defend this concept. This is about Freedom & not free stuff.
...Brothers & sisters, to be a real American, the very least you must do is to learn English & understand it well. In my humble opinion, you cannot be a faithful patriotic citizen if you can't speak the language of the country you live in.
Take this document of 46 pages - last I looked on the Internet, there wasn't a Vietnamese translation of the U.S. Constitution. It took me a long time to get to the point of being able to converse & until this day, I still struggle to come up with the right words. It's not easy, but if it's too easy, it's not worth doing. Before I knew this 46-page document, I learned of the 500,000 Americans who fought for this little boy. I learned of the 58,000 names inscribed on the black wall at the Vietnam Memorial. You are my heroes. You are my founders…I thank you for my life. I thank you for your sacrifices, I thank you for giving me the freedom & liberty I have today. …all veterans, firefighters, & police officers, … [o]n behalf of all first generation immigrants, I thank you for your services & may God bless you. - Quang Nguyen, Creative Director/Founder, Caddis Advertising, LLC
[Emphasis added.]
Quang Nguyen
After he was done speaking, it just seemed fitting to hear Dwayne LaSassier sing, "I'm Proud to Be An American". [Emphasis added.]
ENGLISH ONLY
When Theodore Roosevelt and Quang Nguyen both agree, we should take heed.
Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and author, George Will, makes a persuasive case that English proficiency should be a requirement for citizenship.
Laws, in 1906 and 1950, required people to show oral English fluency and to ‘demonstrate an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write, and speak words in ordinary usage in the English language.’ Ballots in languages other than English make a mockery of the law .
The requirements included a candidate for citizenship have ‘a knowledge of the English language’ or ‘English fluency' in order ‘to promote the patriotic integration of prospective citizens into the American way of life’ and into ‘American common values and traditions’, purposes which are incompatible with ballots in multiple languages.
No public good is achieved by encouraging the participation of people who cannot understand the nation's political conversation. Other language ballots make proficiency in English unnecessary.
Proposing a requirement of English proficiency will be met with predictable charges of racism. Harry Reid was a prime example of the Left reflex "shouting ‘racist'; as a substitute for argument."
Americans welcome immigrants who can read our founding documents and laws and understand the political discussions that precede the casting of ballots..Ending bilingual ballots ensures that.
[Emphasis added.]
Next, a fascinating Left double standard! English proficiency is racist. But, how about this? Yet the UC system [University of California] –never mistaken as a conservative source – has this on its website:
Having a strong understanding of the English language is important for success at UC. That’s why we want to make sure you can demonstrate English proficiency before you attend one of our campuses…If all of your high school/secondary school education was completed in English, you are considered proficient and do not need to satisfy this requirement…However, if you've completed some high school or secondary school in a country where English was not the language of instruction, you will be required to demonstrate English proficiency if you have had less than 3 years of instruction in English. [Emphasis added.]
Wonderful is it not? The Left believe American voters have no need for English proficiency but UC students do. “LIBS AT WORK” indeed!
ADDENDUM TO ISSUE 56 LOONEY TUNES – LIBS AT WORK
https://www.ireallyO ssuemissreagan.com/single-post/2018/01/01/LOONEY-TUNES---LIBS-AT-WORK
This is something new. Never before have I used a current issue to add to a previous issue. But you have to see this! [Also Issue 56 will be amended to include the following addendum.]
TAX REFORM
Another Daffy Doozy.
The recent Tax Reform Act included a provision limiting deductions for state income taxes to $10,000 per year.
This was beneficial to fiscally responsible states and harmful to profligate spending states. It will come as no surprise that the latter are apostles of the Left agenda.… Because federal tax deductions effectively spread the costs of these deductions across all taxpayers in the form of higher federal tax rates, the state and local tax deduction forces federal taxpayers in low-tax states to subsidize taxpayers in high-tax states. …If the state and local tax deduction were eliminated, federal income tax rates could be reduced by as much as 12.5 percent. Ending the federal subsidy of state and local taxes would help to improve the fiscal discipline and economic efficiency of state and local governments by forcing state and local taxpayers to bear the full burden of their governments’ costs.[Emphasis added.]
http://www.heritage.org/taxes/report/time-end-the-federal-subsidy-high-tax-states
One would think this would cause the high tax states to reexamine their philosophy and take steps to be fiscally responsible. Not a chance. The Left believes in its divine right to tax and spend.
https://www.ireallymissreagan.com/single-post/2016/09/24/TAXES-NEVER-ENOUGH-FOR-POLITICIANS
There are …generally …two competing camps, …the ‘red state model’ and the ‘blue state model,’ …. The conservative red state model is predicated on low tax rates, right-to-work laws, light regulation, and pro-energy development policies. This policy strategy is now common in most of the Southern states and the more rural and mountain states. … the liberal blue state model is predominantly found in the Northeast, California, Illinois, Minnesota, and, until recently, Michigan and Ohio. The blue states have doubled down on policies that include high levels of government spending, high income tax rates on the rich, generous welfare benefits, forced-union requirements…[Emphasis added.]
Politicians give the “free stuff” to ensure their re-election.
http://www.heritage.org/government-regulation/report/1000-people-day-why-red-states-are-getting-richer-and-blue-states
So what is the Left’s move, given the new tax reform law?
Of course, devise a scheme to frustrate the Congressional intent by finding a loophole to defeat the Act.
Here’s the scheme cooked up in, [where else?], California:
State legislators are floating some creative schemes to blunt the impact of the new federal tax law on California taxpayers….the main one, proposed by Kevin de León, the outgoing state Senate president pro tem, more than slightly resembles phony tax avoidance scams that entice the unwary and often result in hefty penalties and interest payments being imposed by the Internal Revenue Service…De León's plan would give California taxpayers the option of converting their state income tax payments into charitable donations to the state since the new federal tax law doesn't change the law on charitable deductions. [Emphasis added.]
So the taxpayers get the same deduction as if they were paying state taxes, thus defeating the effort to prevent subsidization by the responsible states!
The scheme may not work:
Would real charities countenance having the state horn in on their territory? Federal tax law has ceilings on charitable deductions, and money going to the state could crowd out real charitable contributions… would the IRS simply allow the plan to operate as de León envisions, or treat it like those tax avoidance scams that con artists float? Most likely, the IRS…would reject deductions of such ‘charitable contributions,’ contending that as substitutes for mandatory state tax payments, they aren't truly voluntary contributions and therefore are invalid….Or Congress could simply make charitable contributions to governments in lieu of taxes non-deductible…California's convoluted tax system does need an overhaul. If anything the new federal tax plan underscores how imbalanced California's system has become and should be the impetus for true reform, not just loading it up with more gimmickry. [Emphasis added.]
Now, are you ready for this? The scheme has been put into effect. I watched a Democrat Congressman on TV chortling delightedly that they had beaten the Act by the charitable dodge. He was beaming, proud of himself in how clever they were to defeat the Congressional intent. They had devised a way to keep the fiscally responsible states subsidizing the high tax states. This exemplifies the arrogance of the Left.
As noted above, the IRS or Congress can and will, [we pray], void the scheme, but it does prove once again that the Left will not be deterred by logic or truth or even simple decency.
CONCLUSION
E pluribus unum -One from many is more than the traditional motto of the United States. The concept has existed since the founding of the American Republic, a system of government never before seen on this planet. Benjamin Franklin: "A republic if [we] can keep it."
It will take the continuing "one from many" to renew America's Republic.
The motto of the United States is 'E Pluribus Unum,'from many, one.' ...more than any other institution, our schools built that one from the many… our children will need wisdom, courage, and strength - virtues beyond their reach without education. In the words of Thomas Jefferson: ‘If a nation expects to be ignorant and free . . . it expects what never was and never will be.’ We need stricter discipline codes…one education handbook told teachers ...enforcing discipline... ‘You have the law back of you. You have intelligent public sentiment back of you.’ We must make both those statements true once again…Decisions about discipline, curriculum, and academic standards... shouldn't be made by people in Washington. They should be made at the grassroots, by parents, teachers, and administrators in their communities…basic subjects need to be taught…also basic values… the great devotions, the crucial writings, and the technical knowledge that have permitted millions to live in abundance and freedom…instruct our children in justice, religion, and liberty…core of our basic values…that the loving God who has blessed this land should never have been expelled from America's classrooms. When we open ourselves to Him, we gain not only moral courage but intellectual strength... Ronald Reagan