Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, one of the few remaining Republicans not to run screaming from any statement that might suggest moderation on matters of immigration, recently said this:
His insistence on engagement is not a call for multiculturalism. Quite the opposite: "The beauty of America—one of the things that so separates us [from the rest of the world]—is this ability to take people from disparate backgrounds that buy into the American ideal."
With regard to assimilation, he says, Hispanics have much to be proud of. "Second-generation Hispanics marry non-Hispanics at a higher rate than second-generation Irish or Italians. Second-generation Hispanics' English language capability rates are higher than previous immigrant groups'."
Jonathan Chait writes in response, "I don't mean to be oversensitive here, but it really seems as if Bush is arguing that republicans should embrace Latino immigration because Latinos are becoming less Latino and more white. Is that really a good political sales pitch?"
In fairness to Bush, The Wall Street Journal's characterization of his comments is more offensive than his actual comments. America's ability to assimilate people from different backgrounds is multiculturalism -- the Journal seems to be arguing that means Latinos abandoning their ethnic identities for "American ones," but I don't think that's exactly what Bush is saying.
Some sociologists use rates of intermarriage to measure social and economic progress, because intermarriage is generally a sign of how well a particular group has done at accessing the kind of privileges that have been either de jure or de facto reserved for whites. So when Bush says that Latinos intermarry at a high rate, he's arguing that Latinos are integrating even faster than Irish and Italians once did -- and I think most of us would be fairly comfortable in a nation where being black or Hispanic was as much of an obstacle to upward mobility as being Irish or Italian is today. I'm less than optimistic about the possibility, but I think that's the gist of the thought being expressed here.
Bush is making the argument that Latinos are immigrating even faster than previous groups and that they provide a cultural and economic boon to the U.S., a message conservatives don't hear often enough. He is speaking to conservative fears about America being "overwhelmed" by Latino immigrants and losing its essential (read: white) identity -- but the truth is that like every other group of immigrants before them, white and nonwhite, Latinos will both become more American and make America more Latino. His remarks suggest he isn't afraid of that, and neither he nor conservatives should be. His remarks are a bit utilitarian, but overall more helpful than harmful.
