Controversial Thesis: "Theory of Hispaniztion"

Hispanics have accounted for more than half of the overall population growth in the United States in this decade. Professor Samuel Huntington poses this as a threat of America's national identity in his controversial thesis about the "Theory of Hispanization". Huntington argued that the American melting pot has been successful in part because historically the immigrants absorbed successfully the core principles of United States. But as a standing out group of immigrants, the immigrants from Mexico and Latino America still stay with their language, loyal to their country and don't want and stay in the condition of no need to adopt American political and cultures value. As being such controversial, the thesis has received so many arguments in favor and against it.

There are arguments that in favor of Huntington's thesis. They argue that the core political values in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are essential, and it will be at the risky of being replaced by different ideals that opposed to liberty, self- government and individual rights. They also argue that American ideals are the guide for all to live together, that the principles allow people to pursue their American dream. The favoring arguments continue with the belief that a shared language and civic bind citizen together, and the multiple language and cultural viewpoints just weaken the citizen.

But, on the other side, there are arguments that are against Huntington's thesis. They argue that in the past, there are already certain waves of immigrants that are incorrectly thought to be opposed American values. And they also think that the bilingualism in Hispanic community is not differing from American core political values. And most of all, they point out that American political culture is more than its Anglo-Protestant core, and the strength of American is its ability to absorb different cultures and values.

So, does the issue of Hispanic immigration threaten American sovereignty and values? No, I don't think so, at least in the pint of view of an "alien" - a foreigner. Let's look at it: why the Founding Father of this country is not Native American, the people who discovered United States at least 12,000 years ago? That is because United States is made of and formed by "immigrants". They are the immigrants who ran away from Britain about 300 years ago, who later became the "Founding Father" and wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. They are the "immigrants" who brought to this country a different ideal of government, of liberty, and of freedom.

They just want to see that United States become a place for immigrants, for the people who ran away from other country, who seek and want their dream come true. And also, as Huntington argue about the bilingualism, about that Hispanic has created a such society that they don't need to learn the language and the culture from America, that is not true. As the same pattern as the immigrants from Vietnam, China, Germany, Italy...; vast majority of Hispanic immigrants become monolingual in English by the 3rd generation. Actually the research shows that 71% of the Hispanic immigrants are English dominated.

So do demonstrations by pro- and anti-immigrant groups signal a significant shift in U.S. history? No, I don't think so either. Because of the movements of both groups, so they balance each other and add varieties to the opinion toward the subject. Because of the beauty in U.S. principles values and ideas, one can express themselves freely; so that's why we have the demonstrations of both groups. This has happened since a long time ago, when U.S. is found by the Founding Father, and it will continue to happen.

Is American political culture more than its core principles and institution? Yes and no! For a person like Huntington, it will be yes. He looks at culture under a political angle. But for me and other American, it will be no. Most of people enjoy the culture for what it is, and they don like to political it.

So what other values and institution add to United States' claim that it is a true "melting pot" or multicultural society? Yes, when people talk about multiculturalism in United States, the term "melting pot" is more popular than the term "tossed salad". That is because people often think about United States as a mixture of diversity of people, races, beliefs, ideals, and cultures. All of the cultures, of the ideals "melt" to each other, combine with each other and create the American ideal. It's not the original ideal of the Founding Father anymore. It changed, is changing and will continue changing. That is the nature of America. For example, when you talk about "American food", there is no real "American food". It is a combination of Scandinavian, French, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Native American ... food! Last Christmas, I had a chance to visit Minnesota. So I asked people what is the most unique food in Minnesota. And the answer is Lutfisk. But the thing is, actually, lutfisk is one of the signature foods from Scandinavia! Minnesota is the state that most of the ancestors of the people live there are immigrants from Scandinavia area! Another example about food is Chinese buffet! You can see it everywhere in United States. But it's not really Chinese, but more accurate it is American-Chinese. You cannot find a Chinese buffet like that in China! And not just about food, it's also like that about music, art, movies and other things. That is the diversity of multi-culture that makes United States the United States nowadays!

So, controversial thesis of Huntington's "Theory of Hispanization" leaves with an unending debate about is it the threat to American national identity and principles? Just let the debate continue, and let it be the beauty of American system.