As this issue marks a momentous benchmark in U.S. history—a nation now 300 million strong—one needs reminded of the fact that quantity alone, though important, is not the sole problem undermining quality-of-life standards for future generations of Americans.

Although the impact of overcrowding—pollution, increased energy consumption, widespread use of limited natural resources, sprawl, and environmental degradation—is one that has to be confronted and controlled, the regulation of numbers alone, however, neglects important immigration matters. It fails to confront an unavoidable set of related issues: That much of this growth is attributed to rising immigration levels, not to mention a host of critical cultural, national, and social issues that accompanies this population increase—important considerations that Americans will eventually have to tackle.

Patrick J. Buchanan’s State of Emergency , the latest bestselling book by the paleoconservative columnist and former Nixon speechwriter, may arguably be his most important work to date, next to The Death of the West. Not since Peter Brimelow’s Alien Nation has a book so articulately and bluntly explained the unprecedented demographic transformation that is unfolding on the North American continent and why it is important to halt this culturally devestating trend.

Buchanan pulls no punches in describing what he views as “the Third World invasion and conquest of America .” He refers to, of course, the obvious “Reconquista” (re-annexation) of the American Southwest by Mexico . Unless the immigration patterns that Buchanan highlights are reversed, the future seems quite bleak for his fellow countrymen.  

Consider the following:

● Each month, the border patrol apprehends more illegal aliens breaking into our country—roughly 150,000—than the entire number of troops we have in Iraq .

● One in every 12 people entering the U.S. illegally has a criminal record.

● By 2050, there will be more than 100 million Hispanics concentrated in a Southwest that most Mexicans believe was stolen by the United States and still belongs to Mexico .

● Diseases once stamped out in America , like drug-resistant TB, syphilis, and leprosy, and others that have never appeared here, like Chagas disease and dengue fever, are surfacing in city after city.

● In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all warrants for homicide (1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens.

● Metropolitan Washington, D.C. suburban communities have been rocked by “gang violence” as a result of a steady rise in Latino gang activity.

Buchanan draws attention to important national, cultural, and ethnic factors that others either neglect or tiptoe around. Especially encouraging is Buchanan’s blunt assessment that the U.S. is more than a “creedal nation”—it is a nation settled by Europeans and firmly shaped by European customs, cultural traditions, and folkways. He explicitly challenges the modern notion of America , promoted by the political elites on the Left and the Right, as a boundless multicultural, multiethnic paradise where “all can be assimilated, all can be Americanized.”

As so few have put so well, Buchanan sizes up the fallacies of America as a “creedal nation”

This ideology is the antithesis of conservatism, for it is rooted in a belief in the plasticity and malleability of human beings. It teaches that history and race, religion and culture do not matter, that roots mean nothing. Though this is gospel among our New Class elite, it is rejected by Middle America . The people sense something is dangerously wrong when millions who do not share our nationality, speak our language, or have any loyalty to our country are crossing our borders illegally and entering our land.

‘Suicide of the GOP’

Few high-profile political commentators are as refreshingly forthright and sincere in expressing their concerns and convictions as Buchanan. He acknowledges the valued insights and contributions of the late Sam Francis (a frequent contributor to The Social Contract) when so many others turned their backs on Sam after his firing from The Washington Times. Buchanan remained a loyal friend to the end and wrote a solemn tribute to Sam after attending his funeral.

Buchanan’s chapter, “Suicide of the GOP,” draws attention to the fact that the Republicans have steadily abandoned Middle American conservatism for the Economism of Wall Street while embracing the political correctness of multiculturalism, and as a result the GOP could easily become America ’s permanent minority party.

A recent Boston Globe editorial takes Buchanan to task for “peddling dangerous ideas.” The editors take a swipe at him for “fear-mongering” even though the paper admitted that “no one denies that ‘the West’ is undergoing huge demographic change.” For suggesting that the country should have a ten-year moratorium on immigration, that the country should assimilate the legal immigrants already in the U.S., and that employers should face legal repercussions for hiring illegal aliens, the Globe rebukes Buchanan for “layering in the toxin of racial animosity.”

When one considers, with a rational, open mind, the social indicators that have accompanied the present wave of immigrants—from crime and poverty to educational levels and health standards—which statistician Ed Rubenstein has thoroughly documented, and the dismal extent to which these immigrants have culturally assimilated into the U.S., Buchanan’s assessment of what the future holds for America seems extraordinarily realistic.

As America ’s demographic transformation unfolds day by day like time-lapse photography, Buchanan deserves credit for boldly drawing attention to a trend that could disrupt America ’s national cohesion. Our lack of resolve now will determine the type of future our children will face. The book’s skyrocketing sales suggest that Buchanan isn’t the only one who thinks so. ■