Document text
0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Emergency Services Hundreds gather to honor fallen local firefighter Double duty: Rural fire departments ready for structure fires or wildfires Restaurant Inspections Since You Asked: Old clock is still on time Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency Services Emergency Services West Nile Virus found in mosquitoes collected near Central Point Emergency Services Watch out for bogus charities during and after wildfires Politics and Elections Medford eyes electronic sign visual pollution Medford council veterans plan exit Medical marijuana patients run for council seat Former colleagues laud Atiyeh's 'practical' leadership Bates-Dotterrer race called critical to Senate control Education State treasurer stumps for educational endowment measure Free meals program expands in Grants Pass Migrant student numbers soar $21 million Science Building upgrades begin at SOU Eagle Point district mulls fate of Trail school State news Nation - World Obituaries Ivan O. Simonsen Kenneth Lavern Marvin Alan Randolph Gaar Death Notices Bill Reagan Weather Photo Galleries Videos Web Cams Sports Latest Stories Raiders look to build on sloppy exhibition opener Venus tops Serena in all-Williams semifinal Son of 49ers' Harbaugh forging own coaching path Oregon's Freeman drives up his stock with style McIlroy in lead at PGA Championship, barely Varsity 541 College Sports Oregon's Freeman drives up his stock with style Judge rules against NCAA in O’Bannon case Loyd in ‘football mindset’ as fall camp opens Villamin appreciates return to field with Beavers Great expectations follow Ducks Pro Sports Raiders look to build on sloppy exhibition opener Venus tops Serena in all-Williams semifinal Son of 49ers' Harbaugh forging own coaching path McIlroy in lead at PGA Championship, barely McIlroy in a familiar spot in final major Community Sports Locals shine in Dwarf Car Nationals opener Mustangs rout Alaska in opener Larkins named Oregon Bowling Proprietors of Year Mavs capture Legion A state title Medford Mustangs win American Legion state title Business Latest Stories Blog: Once Upon A Time... Blog: AmericanWest owners seeking ways to cash out Erickson posts $17.4 million second-quarter loss Walden hears from local e-commerce representatives RoxyAnn's winemaker will leave Sept. 1 Real Estate News Median residential housing prices rise 10.7 percent, but may begin to level out Average selling price of existing homes jumps 8.1% countywide People In Business People in business Transportation Medford airport has second-best June ever Agriculture Hail has local pear growers checking for damage Del Rio plans to add 50% more plants Harry & David sets sights on year-round operations Opinion Latest Letters to the Editor Our View: Cheers and jeers Our View: Bottle redemption center could be a plus Dana Milbank: A welcome end to American whiteness Letters to the Editor Editorials Our View: Cheers and jeers Our View: Bottle redemption center could be a plus Our Opinion: A new chapter for an old mill site Our View: School success is about more than the three Rs Our Opinion: An uphill battle Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor Letter: Editors got it right Letter: Getting away with it Letter: Don't believe reports Guest Opinions Who I am and why I want to serve on the City Council City council members should be paid Lifestyle Latest stories Community blog:Maybe the Movies Will Lead the Way Maybe they're aliens on wheels Twice as good: Oregon Outdoors Photo Contest winners Waterfowlers will get another banner season 1930s color film of Yellowstone being preserved Food Community blog: Hands-on knife class needs keen participants Juicing offers endless combinations Holding all the cardamoms: A spice whose time has come Community blog: Baby's berry blues warrant look at prewashing Community blog: Ways with watermelon span summer months Home and Garden Tips for keeping backyard birds cool this summer Bath time for the birds: You can help them stay cool and clean Learn to pick produce at the peak of ripeness Support the mycorrhizae! It could help your plants Make a plan for your fall and over-winter garden Health Community blog:Maybe the Movies Will Lead the Way Asante plans to open big outpatient clinic in Grants Pass Posting thoughts on your bumper can be sticky Community blog:Any Volunteers? Rear-end messages say a lot about us Faith Religion briefs Community Blog: Is Peace Possible in the Middle East part 2 Religion briefs Community Blog: Peace: The inward passage - by Bonnie Greenwell Religion briefs Milestones and Achievements Stuss-Bones Births New Arrivals New Arrivals Groen-Arkens Tempo Latest stories 'Chicken' Hirsh: 'A responsible bohemian' 'Shrek' comes to the stage as a musical Sweet Ghosts at Oberon's Entertainment 'on the bricks' at OSF Randall Theatre opens 'Godspell' Theater Film festival kicks off annual 'Daedalus Project' Review: The joy of 'Godspell' is infectious 'Shrek' comes to the stage as a musical Randall Theatre opens 'Godspell' 'Great Society' a darker sequel to 'All the Way' Music Review: Béla Fleck pairs his banjo with Britt orchestra Ottmar Liebert & Luna Negra at Pear Blossom Park Fleck to perform banjo concerto 'Chicken' Hirsh: 'A responsible bohemian' Sweet Ghosts at Oberon's Community Events 5 Things to Do This Weekend Ashland's First Friday Art Walk It's Fair Time! Dining Basil & Berries India Palace Taco Riendo Uber Herbal Coquina Restaurant Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Magazines & Special Sections NEWS NOW Dana Milbank: A welcome end to American whiteness MailTribune.com Writer Posted Aug. 7, 2014 @ 2:00 am Updated Aug 7, 2014 at 8:48 AM Posted Aug. 7, 2014 @ 2:00 am Updated Aug 7, 2014 at 8:48 AM » Social News The unfriendly airwaves of talk radio this week gave us an inadvertently revealing moment. Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, a Republican immigration hard-liner and part of what The Wall Street Journal just branded "the GOP's Deportation Caucus," was giving his retort to the paper's pro-business editorialists on Laura Ingraham's radio show Monday: "They need to be patriots, and they need to think about America first," Brooks said. America First? How 1940! The congressman went on to condemn those who say the Republican position on immigration is dooming the party by alienating Latinos. "This is a part of the war on whites that's being launched by the Democratic Party," Brooks said. "And the way in which they're launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else. It's a part of the strategy that Barack Obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on race, on sex, greed, envy, class warfare." It was the battle cry of the white man, particularly the Southern white man, who is feeling besieged. I don't share the fear, but I understand it. The United States is experiencing a rapid decoupling of race and nationality: Whiteness has less and less to do with being American. The Census Bureau forecasts that non-Hispanic whites, now slightly more than 60 percent of the population, will fall below 50 percent in 2043. Within 30 years, there will cease to be a racial majority in the United States. In a narrow political sense, this is bad news for the GOP. But for the country, the disassociation of whiteness and American-ness is to be celebrated. Indeed, it is the key to our survival. This is not merely about a fresh labor supply but about the fresh blood needed to cure what ails us. To benefit from such a transfusion, we not only need to welcome more immigrants but also to adopt pieces of their culture lacking in our own — just as we have done with other (mostly European) cultures for centuries. This is the theme of my friend Eric Liu's provocative new book, "A Chinaman's Chance." Liu writes about Chinese-Americans (Asians, as it happens, eclipsed Hispanics last year as the fastest-growing minority in the United States) but the thesis is similar for other immigrant cultures. Liu argues that the United States needn't fear China's rise because the Chinese have already given us the tools to beat them economically: their sons and daughters. "America has an enduring competitive advantage over China: America makes Chinese-Americans; China does not make American-Chinese," Liu says. "China does not want to or know how to take people from around the world, welcome them, and empower them to change the very fabric of their nation's culture." Liu observes that American culture now has an excess of individualism, short-term thinking and prioritizing of rights over duties. He calls for "a corrective dose" of Chinese values: mutual responsibility, long-term thinking, humility, moral character and contribution to society. "What Chinese culture at its best can bring to America is a better balance between being an individual and being in a community," he writes, offering the example of Tony Hsieh, the Taiwanese-American chief executive of Zappos who is pouring some $350 million into reviving downtown Las Vegas: "He's an American gambler with a Chinese long view; he is supremely confident yet mainly silent; he has so little of the American need to sell himself, so little extroversion, that he jokes even his friends aren't sure he likes them." Part of Liu's confidence that the United States will triumph over China is that his ancestral land, in modernizing, is losing some of the best aspects of Chinese culture — and acquiring our own excesses. He notes that, as the Chinese extended family frayed, the government enacted a law requiring adult children to visit their elderly parents — the sort of thing Chinese did voluntarily for millennia. China responds with edicts because it lacks the source of continuous adaptability and vitality that imported cultures give the United States. The inherent advantage in the American system will continue — if we don't get hung up about whiteness. The tea party movement was a setback because it elevated extreme individualism over collective responsibilities and because it tapped into nativism and further undermined trust in American institutions. Some tea partyers such as Brooks may never be able to leave the bunkers where they defend whiteness. But for other conservatives and Republicans — and, more importantly, for America — it's not too late.   Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank. MailTribune.com Writer Posted Aug. 7, 2014 @ 2:00 am Updated Aug 7, 2014 at 8:48 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2014 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. MailTribune.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501