There is no such thing as an American melting pot.
Never existed.
It's a quilt.
I agree with you Luis. You know what's so beautiful about a quilt? Every little block of fabric is different and beautiful on it's own - then when you piece them all together it is a beautiful work of love!
Who wants a melting pot - you melt everything together and you get this homogenous sauce that is all one color and one flavor - BORING.
I love different cultures! Just because we are different and want to keep our traditions doesn't mean we can't have common ground. Our common ground is our love for America - with all of it's DIFFERENT patches of fabric, it's beautiful because it's not all the same.
I live in a part of the country that is known for it's unique cultural heritage, Appalachia. I LOVE the culture and history of my people and would absolutely hate it if we were asked to forget it and meld in with everyone else.
I love the immigrants, no matter where they come from. I just think that we should have the right to know who is here, if they have a criminal background, and will they be able to be a productive member of our society without having to be a drain to our resources. If they want to jump through the hoops to become a citizen - great! Get in line.
Should we make it easier for people to get work visas and citizenship? Yes. But we should require that they follow the rules. The problem is that our government has turned it's back on enforcing the rules and encouraged people to sneak in the back door. Why? I'll tell you why and it is evil to the core.
Big business and the politicians they financially support need third world country cheap labor to drive their profits. What is more convenient than having a third world country right on our southern border? They don't want these countries to develop - they want to keep the people desperate so that they'll work cheap - and that's just the whole sordid truth about it.