There are those who contend Kim Jong-un is a real threat to the United States. Not only because he possesses nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them, but because he is an erratic personality not easily deterred. Similarly, Iranian forces will soon have nuclear weapons and long range ICBMs to reach North America.
The stage is set for catastrophe. Yet despite any misgivings about both nations and the threats they pose, these are not the only threats we must contain. In my judgment there is another threat, one that has gained tremendous momentum and has the air of inevitability about it.
That is the demographic nightmare afflicting the West and metastasizing across the globe. While I have some reservations about August Comte’s claim “demography is destiny” there is no doubt demography will affect the future and indeed is affecting the present.
Migration is one manifestation of this trend. The war-torn nations of North Africa generate millions of refugees seeking sanctuaries and the largess several European countries provide. Africa holds the key to the future. At the moment the continent has a population of 1.2 billion, but in 20 years the number will double. On top of the number are the limited opportunities and generally failed economies. Many, if not most, Africans will seek opportunities elsewhere.
Ms. Merkel, using the NGO language of “diversity” and “humanitarianism” has opened Germany’s doors to millions of migrants thereby transforming her nation and setting the stage for conflict. Many Muslim arrivals segregate from prevailing German norms swelling crime rates and putting pressure on welfare facilities. Yet here is the center of European wealth. Nations to the east such as Poland and Hungary reject these policy prescriptions, although they recognize Germany as the linchpin of Europe’s future.
The stresses on Europe are often ignored, yet the sentiments are close to public airing. Like the former Austro Hungarian empire, the schisms are east and west, north and south. In Europe today, southern states have an effective unemployment rate of over fifty percent. The North works; the South collects welfare checks. Is it any wonder northern Italy wants to secede from the nation? In the east, leaders like Viktor Orban of Hungary contend the migrants can march through the country, but cannot remain. As a consequence, he is despised and excoriated as a “fascist,” but in eastern Europe he is a hero.
For the European transformers who have welcomed the migrants and promoted socialist ideas, the new century is regarded as a time to revolutionize Europe with diversity as the instrument and downplaying civilization itself as the goal. Tallyrand commenting on the Bourbons said: “They had learned nothing and forgotten nothing.” Surely that will be the epitaph for the new Europe.
As Europe convulses, the question is how far behind is the United States. Had Donald Trump not been elected president in 2016, immigration to the U.S. would have tripled, primarily from Muslim dominated countries. Hillary Clinton made it clear that in the campaign that diversity of a narrowly political cast was her goal; in fact, it remains the goal of the Democratic party, a party that has mortgaged its soul to identity politics and the political god Diversity.
Surely the U.S. is the most compassionate nation on the globe and just as surely sensible people know compassion has its limits. The threats to Europe are borne in part from a low birthrate by native Europeans, an issue that is starting to emerge in the U.S. as well. Therefore, the real scenario is a declining population being overrun by an alien population in which the essential cultural characteristics of the past are interred along with the idiosyncratic features of our culture. Assimilation becomes a casualty of mass migration.
Can it be halted? Perhaps, if Americans wake up to the threat now. In five years it will be too late. The Europeans have delivered that message.
This summer I visited Sardinia, a notable docking point for many north Africans crossing the Mediterranean. On bench after bench sat young men – literally hundreds – with bling around their necks, new sneakers on their feet and Michael Jordan tee shirts covering their chests; all provided by the generosity of the Italian government. These young men do not work; there aren’t jobs available note officials. Moreover, since most of these migrants arrive without credentials, it is impossible to know from where they came and how many are in their number.
The “Italian boot” kicks this can down the road, but at some point the road is gone, bereft of support. Here in metaphorical terms is Europe today. Is the U.S. on the same path? The real question is how can it be avoided.