Wha-h-h-h? This has to go down as one of the stranger non sequiturs from a pundit of national standing. Responding to a study that concludes that burgeoning multiculturalism threatens national unity, David Broder takes solace in the fact that 34 years ago, the American body politic booted Richard Nixon from office.
In his column of today, One Nation No More?, Broder comments on the study, E Pluribus Unum, recently released by the The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
The study's opening paragraphs set the tone:
In a nation that celebrates its diversity, we need to remind ourselves that we are also part of “one
nation indivisible.” Parents of school children, regardless of background, agree.
In too many ways, current attitudes sanction dual citizenship, multilingual ballots, and bilingual instruction rather than English immersion. Instead of one America, there are voices for many Americas, or even no America at all. Few would intend this result, but it may be the inevitable consequence of citizens not being able to communicate in a common language and placing other loyalties above their allegiance “to the flag and the republic for which it stands.”
To support his assertion that the study's "degree of pessimism seems unwarranted," Broder first points to the involvement of young people in this year's campaigns and various good works, then curiously concludes:
I have not worried about the fundamental commitment of the American people since 1974. In that year, they were confronted with the stunning evidence that their president had conducted a criminal conspiracy out of the Oval Office. In response, the American people reminded Richard Nixon, the man they had just recently reelected overwhelmingly, that in this country, no one, not even the president, is above the law. They required him to yield his office.
That is not the sign of a nation that has lost its sense of values or forgotten the principles on which this system rests. And that is something worth celebrating on more than the Fourth of July.
So the fact that Richard Nixon was forced from office in 1974 is the bedrock upon which Broder dismisses the threat multiculturalism poses to national unity in 2008? What can I say beyond "say what?"
