[rayiner]

Bill Clinton passed sweeping laws to curb illegal immigration, including the ban on using federal dollars to support illegal immigrants: https://scholars.org/brief/how-americas-1996-immigration-act.... Progressives meantime took positions that were fringe in the 1990s, like cultural relativism, and redefined that as “rejecting hate.”

Progressives have elevated cultural relativism to a core religious principle. They can’t even articulate why it’s desirable for immigrants to “assimilate,” because in their world view it must be taken as axiomatic that America wouldn’t be substantively less successful if it was culturally more like Guatemala or India.

[nullocator]

Maybe they can't articulate a desirable reason for immigrants to you about why they need to "assimilate" because you're using the word to mean something else. You speak about bs like cultural relativism and fringe beliefs and then immediately turn around and try to use rhetorical and symbolic dogwhistles. For you and the MAGA cultist "assimilation" is more about cultural domination and conformation and forced civic integration. People grounded in reality and history embrace multiculturalism, bi-lingualism and only care about assimilation in terms of understanding laws and civic institutions. The progressive view would be one that helps and embraces immigrants and enables them to identify with the american national identity. I care more about whether or not someone believes they are part of and a citizen of the united states of america, whether they believe they have a vested interest in it and it's peoples. I do not care any more or less about an immigrants culture, beliefs, rituals or habits any more than any segment of the population (other than maybe from a curiosity standpoint in some cases).

[rayiner]

> embrace multiculturalism, bi-lingualism and only care about assimilation in terms of understanding laws and civic institutions... I do not care any more or less about an immigrants culture, beliefs, rituals or habits any more than any segment of the population

You could put that in a dictionary as the definition for "cultural relativism." I mean, you just referred to "forced civic integration" like that's a bad thing! That's not Clinton Democrats believed in the 1990s. They believed in the "melting pot," which meant cultural homogenization. More specifically, it meant immigrants adopting Anglo-American culture, like German immigrants.

But progressives rejected the "melting pot," and now think we have a "salad bowl." This fight over the "salad bowl" is completely different than what the fight was about in the 1990s. Bill Clinton wasn't a cultural relativist--he never talked about a "salad bowl" multi-cultural America.

[oa335]

> embrace multiculturalism, bi-lingualism and only care about assimilation in terms of understanding laws and civic institutions... I do not care any more or less about an immigrants culture, beliefs, rituals or habits any more than any segment of the population

That’s almost exactly what Bill Clinton advocated

> Can we be one America respecting, even celebrating, our differences, but embracing even more what we have in common? …Can we define what it means to be an American …in terms of our primary allegiance to the values America stands for and values we really live by?

> And more than ever, we understand the benefits of our racial, linguistic, and cultural diversity in a global society

> When young people sit side by side with people of many different backgrounds, they do learn something that they can take out into the world. And they will be more effective citizens.

> we must demand responsibility from every American. Our strength as a society depends upon both—upon people taking responsibility for themselves and their families, teaching their children good values, working hard and obeying the law, and giving back to those around us… No responsibility is more fundamental than obeying the law.

Additionally, Clinton may not have used the “salad bowl” metaphor, but frequently used metaphors like “mosaic” and “tapestry woven from different colored threads”.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/commencement-addre...