But of course Rome fell,
and so too might America, and if it does happen, the blame will almost surely
lie on the altar of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is formally defined as
the “acceptance or promotion of multiple cultural traditions within a single
jurisdiction.”7 In practice,
multiculturalism presents itself as a harmless commitment to tolerance that all
well-intentioned people should share.
But in fact multiculturalism is an
acid that dissolves nation-states. This is its purpose. Multiculturalism arose in the aftermath of
the Second World War, a war launched by two ultranationalist states (National
Socialist Germany and Imperial Japan) and characterized by the genocide of
whole nations. The politicians and intellectuals of the post war era swore to
never allow this to happen again, and multiculturalism was their solution. By
promoting multiculturalism they hoped to destroy that which gave rise to total
war. To save Western civilization, it was necessary to destroy it. Or so they
believed.
How does multiculturalism destroy ethnic
nation-state? We have already shown that an ethnic nation-state relies on its
people’s common ancestry, language, and traditions – its unity – to provide
social cohesion to its state. Multiculturalism erodes all three, by
diversifying the ancestry, languages, and traditions. Where once stood a people
united now stands a people divided. With the loss of unity go the social
stability and social capital that unit brought and diversity destroys.
A civic
nation relies on a particular expression of citizenship and individual rights,
and as such seems like it would be protected from the acidic effects of
multiculturalism. But from
what source does a civic nation derive its particular expression of citizenship
and rights? There are only two: from its religion or from its political
philosophy. But both of these are deeply rooted in a people’s culture,
language and tradition. Consider the difference between American and Chinese
views on good governance. The former is rooted in Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson,
Madison and the theory of social contract. The latter is rooted in Confucius,
Han Fei, Mozi, and the theory of Heaven’s Mandate. The former idealizes
republican democracy; the latter idealizes benevolent monarchy.
Multiculturalism insists that a Chinese immigrant can maintain the cultural
traditions of Chinese Legalism while still being an American; but Chinese
Legalism is incompatible with republican democracy. If being an American does
not mean sharing the values upon which America was founded – what does it mean?
A state can, for a time,
survive a diversity of values. But a civic nation cannot.
This,
then, is the state of things. Ethnic nation-states are unified and therefore
enjoy high social capital and stability. Multiethnic states are diverse and
their diversity destroys social capital. Shared values in the form of civic
nationalism can in time restore social capital and stability by creating a
civic nationalism that trumps ethnicity. But multiculturalism is ruinous of
both, adding more ethnic diversity and weakening civic unity.
Many will argue that ethnic diversity is
inevitable in today’s global society and therefore that multiculturalism is
necessary. This is a lie. It is worse than a lie: It is offering up poison when
medicine is at hand. The right way to overcome ethnic diversity already exists.
Civic nationalism, characterized by the American melting pot, has proven
effective for centuries, as had the Roman melting pot of antiquity. The genius
of civic nationalism is that it replaces the genetic with the memetic. In
this way, a Gaul became a Roman, and a Swede became an American, because Roman-ness
and American-ness were divorced from ethnicity. But civic nationalism must be
allowed to replicate. Memes can die, just like genes. To replicate, civic nationalism must be instilled in each new
generation by those who are its stewards. If a nation’s own citizens do not
love their shared civic values enough to demand that immigrants adopt them, it
is a surety that the immigrants will look at that nation with contempt.
