A swing and a miss in the WSJ: What ‘Created Equal’ Means in America

I react with contempt to the article "What ‘Created Equal’ Means in America" by William A. Galston in the Wall Street Journal today.

This is an attack on Republicans for objecting to unselective mass immigration in recent years, portraying any objections as a violation of the foundational American principle that "all men are created equal."

The article pretends its sneering condescension is reasonable and true. For a paragraph. Then the "mistakes on both sides" come in. Liberals care too much, it would seem. For the other side:

On the right, there are those who reject these words as self-evidently false. Women should be subordinate to men; people whose families have been in the U.S. for generations are superior to recent immigrants; Christians of European heritage are the real Americans.

The first straw man appears to be the usual misinterpretation of Biblical advice on the nuclear family[1][2][3].

The second straw man is true insofar as lifelong citizens are the core of every civilization.

The third straw man happens to be true at present, and is likely to continue.

These straw men are presented as invalid thoughts on their face, proving once again that liberals do not understand conservatives. No contrast is acknowledged between group and individual arguments.

In response to this article, I'll repurpose my Madame Secretary Rant from some years ago:

Diversity is not a strength of America. Diversity is not a weakness of America. Diversity is irrelevant in America, and that is the whole point. Diversity is a symptom and by-product of the principle that anyone who comes to America and lives by our principles becomes an American. We literally do not care where you came from, what station you were born to, or what you look like.

Toward the end, the article undercuts its own intent by the fundamental error of the liberal conception of immigration:

By the same token, people who work hard, follow the rules, and do their best to sustain their families and communities deserve decent and dignified lives, even if the unfettered market doesn’t provide them.

I am the son of a legal immigrant. It makes all the difference in the world.