Selective Amnesia and 'The National Question'

    Following Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory over Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, the 1965 “Great Society” Congress passed a new immigration act—rushed through after less than a month of hearings—which eliminated the “National Origins” quotas that had been responsible for keeping immigration at manageable levels for over four decades. At the time, Atty Gen. Nicholas Katzenbach asserted that the proposed legislation was merely “symbolic” and claimed that no more than 5,000 Asians were likely to migrate to the United States  in any given year. The bill’s chief Senate sponsor, Edward Kennedy (D-MA) brushed aside fears that massive immigration from the Caribbean , South America , and Asia  would result from the change in policy. Other administration figures, politicos, and a stable of pundits and media analysts disseminated false information and baseless assurances.

Historian Theodore White, an admirer of Lyndon Johnson, confessed that the 1965 Immigration Act was “probably the most thoughtless of the many acts of the Great Society.” He went on to observe that the changes touched off by the 1965 Act may end up being the key contributing factor in “what could become a catastrophe—the tide of immigration, legal and illegal, pouring into this country….One starts with the obvious: The United States has lost one of the cardinal attributes of sovereignty—it no longer controls its own borders.”

Now, we are told that Americans should “celebrate Diversity” and bask in their dispossession. Yet, public opinion polls consistently reveal that the American majority opposes this transformation. The internet e-zine, VDARE.COM is the unrivaled source of information and analysis of what is described as “The National Question.” Is there a “national interest?” And if there is, how do current immigration policies impact it? We are pleased to include a selection of some of the Best of VDARE.COM in this issue of The Social Contract.