Super-Duper Wacky n' Tacky Euro Adventure

the great legacy of the Hoover Institution is alive and well. Look what I found in the Moscow Times this past week in an article talking about the turmoil in France:

"In the last few weeks, I have heard repeated expressions of anxiety about the growth of California's - and the country's - Latino population. My colleague at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, Victor Davis Hanson, fears he will soon be living in "Mexifornia," echoing the worries expressed not so long ago by Harvard's Samuel Huntington."

Oh dear. Where to begin? The wierd thing is that this was included as part of a larger point in the op-ed that the US is a lot more accepting and integrating of its immigrant population than Europe. Yes. I see what you mean. (?!?)

Here a some of the things I might say to the Mr. Hanson:
*Stop misrepresenting my school, you biggoted jerk.
*Get the hell out of California, we won't miss you.
*In fact, you were the immigrant waaaaay after my family was here, but I'm not too worried about any "Gringafornia."

In a more diplomatic sense, I might say the following:
*The population growth in "mexifornia" is not due to immigration, but overwhelmingly from child-birth rates among Latinos (that are already in the state). Socio-Economic status continues to be the leading determinant of birth rates among families. What trends, besides immigration, are more apparent here?
*How can the Hoover Institution on one hand advocate unregulated open trade and free markets and at the same time denounce immigrants who have come to support the huge economic engine that is California? Simply put: You can't have your cake and kick others out of the country wanting to have some cake too. Economic growth and immigration go hand-in-hand. It is much better to attempt to convey integration and acceptance than alienation because guess what: they're not going anywhere fast.

Now that I've ranted, I would simply advise Mr. Niell Ferguson of the Los Angeles Times not to be so quick to declare the US and California as a shining example of how to approach immigration. While we're doing much better than France right now, we still have a long way to go ourselves; and not giving the Hoover Institution press and legitimacy would go a long way to help out.