As in ancient Rome, foreigners are becoming our emperors
by Clyde Wilson
Almost everybody assumes that Vice President Kamala Harris will succeed Joe Biden as president, perhaps before the end of his term.
If so, she will be the first woman president and the first Asian-American president, with extra credit for being the second African -“American” president.
They don’t mention that she is the first anchor-baby president, the first president with no American background at all. Her mother came from India in 1958 as a student and stayed. Her father came from Jamaica as a student in 1961 and stayed. The mother is a high caste Indian—that is, comes from the most racially discriminatory group in the world, who cannot even be touched by inferiors. Her black father brags that his people were not slaves but slave owners.
Neither Obama nor Harris is an “African-American” in a genuine sense. Why are they considered such? What about the long-suffering real African-Americans whose forebears have been here longer than most Yankees? With good and really enforced immigration law, Harris might not even be a citizen. As it is, she kept in touch with her foreign relatives and also lived in Canada for several years.
Most presidents have descended from families that were here even before the United States appeared. Washington and Adams were already the third generation in America. All presidents have had at least two generations of native-born behind them.
What happened to Americans? We are starting to resemble the corrupt days of the Roman Empire when foreigners regularly became Emperors.
Then there is the “Squad” in the House of Representatives, with gushingly laudatory biographies on Wikipedia. There is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents. She is determined to re-educate or eliminate me whose family on both sides were here in the 1600s. And Ilhan Omar, a Muslim born in Somalia, whose attainment of citizenship has been questioned. And Rashida Tlaib, born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrants.
One hears Republicans with their usual short-sightedness complaining about the appearance of these leftist termagants with national influence. If only Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes had sponsored and enforced good immigration laws, we may never have heard of these folks.
And, of course, it used to be taken for granted that a president had a substantial record of public service as a good citizen: governor, senator, or general. Obama was excused from this requirement. At least he had a demeanour and a patter that pleased a lot of people. The fall from George Washington to U.S. Grant was catastrophic. The fall from U.S. Grant to Kamala Harris beggars belief.
Clyde Wilson is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History of the University of South Carolina. He is the author or editor of more than 30 books and 700 articles and essays, M.E. Bradford Professor of the Abbeville Institute, and co-owner of Shotwell Publishing.
