The Immigration Mystique: America's False Conscience [Hardcover]

Chilton Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 1996

Immigration is essentially a moral rather than an economic issue, concerning questions far more fundamental than whether or not immigration is a fiscal burden or boon. Noting that there have been virtually no new arguments in the immigration debate, which is as old as American history, Chilton Williamson, Jr., observes that arguments for and against immigration, unfortunately, have been stated mostly in economic terms.A morally responsible approach to immigration must include considerations other than the satisfaction of the individual rights and opportunities of immigrants and aliens. What adverse effect does immigration have on our national identity, social and political order, and cultural cohesion? And what impact does it have on population growth and the environment? How does mass immigration affect the immigrants themselves and their countries of origin?Williamson challenges the contemporary religious defense of a generous immigration policy and explains why the ”fairness” demanded by human rights advocates is quixotic and unattainable. While the immigration crisis needs to be resolved by insights drawn from moral and religious grounds, as well as from political and philosophical ones, the standard he recommends is, above all else, communitarian.The Immigration Mystique traces the growth of the immigration myth—or mystique—from colonial times to the present, a construct developed mainly between the Civil War and 1965. This myth is self-congratulatory and propagandistic, intended to justify and promote the growth of American power and influence in the world. Among its many unanticipated consequences is the transformation of the United States into the ”First Universal Nation.”

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The original identity of America's founders, based on Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture, was diluted by the "great wave" of immigration between 1880-1924. Chilton Williamson Jr. argues that today American identity is under an even more intense attack from new arrivals. While he touches on the consequences of immigration for working-class Americans and the environment, his real concern is the preservation of American culture. Right through that earlier wave of immigration, Williamson believes that a core identity based on the values of the constitution was preserved. He argues that immigration should now be curtailed to protect that culture, responsibility, and family. The disintegration of "values" is due more to the self-serving motivations of native elites--it would remain even if immigration were eradicated.

From Publishers Weekly

An "immigration mystique" purveyed since the pre-WWI era by politicians of both parties promotes high-sounding but flawed justifications for large-scale immigration to our shores, declares Williamson, senior editor of Chronicle (and formerly National Review's literary and senior editor). This mystique, he says, wrongly equates a generous immigration policy with displays of national moral worth and fosters an unrealistic dream of multicultural globalism based on the mistaken assumption that the U.S. has a special obligation to peoples of color in former European colonies of Asia and Africa. The conservative core of Williamson's argument is familiar: non-European and Third World immigrants bring with them "opposing values" from "proletarian and peasant cultures" that jeopardize the nation's dominant WASP culture, prevent us from consolidating a national identity and thus threaten "to condemn the United States to endless cultural adolescence." He further contends that mass, unskilled immigration displaces U.S. citizens from jobs, saps productivity and impedes technological advances. His polemic takes on liberals as well as conservatives who favor open borders.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (June 27, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465032869
• ISBN-13: 978-0465032860
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,641,748 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo, June 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Immigration Mystique: America's False Conscience (Hardcover)

At last, a defense of the ANGLO-AMERICAN founding. The United States became a great land due to its Anglo-American founders- Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and the rest. The current Third World torrent is destructive of the Old Republic as was the Eastern European and Southern European torrent of 1880-1914 because both have acted as democratic fuel for anti-Old Republic demagogues like our vile President. Remember this!- George Washington's nation is doomed if Third World hordes continue to be allowed the red carpet. Rome fell to the barbarians; so might America.

11 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Hate-mongering worthy of Brimelow, February 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Immigration Mystique: America's False Conscience (Hardcover)

After reading a book such as this one, I start wondering whether the Julian Simons and the other intelligent conservatives of the world have truly replaced the racist, nativist section of that ideology. Mr. Williamson delivers nothing of substance in this short, fact-lacking book. A man who has obviously not examined the opinions of the new immigrants assigns certain views to them and then rejects these views at right - strawman argument at its best, in other words. While some immigration critics, like George Kennan, have used logic and statistics to make their case, Williamson relies upon anger, hatred and ethnocentrism. If you want to find a good case against immigration, read Kennan, not Williamson.