America could gradually over the course of a century or so evolve to resemble many of her southern neighbors in Latin America, both economically and socially. In this article I’ll explain why it’s already started.
I’m familiar with one country in Latin America – The Republic of Panama. I got to know two kinds of people in Panama.
One was a single, middle-class single mom. She worked as an analyst in the banking district in downtown Panama City, and lived in a gated community. She had a house of her own. She was fair skinned and blonde – not typical for most of Panama. Most of her neighbors in this middle class gated community were fair skinned like her. She could afford the services of a full time maid and nanny for her two kids on an analyst’s salary. She owned a new car, and shopped in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets in which most of the customers were relatively affluent – and fair skinned – like her.
The other kind of person was Mestizo and lived in poor, overcrowded neighborhoods. They shopped in crowded open air markets, used crowded mass transit or drove junky cars, and crime was endemic. I once spent Christmas with a family in one of these neighborhoods. When I went back to my hotel I was warned about the neighborhood. They told me, “If a man steps in front of your car around here, run him over.” I stood out like a sore thumb.
The malls tell much of the story. Most of the people in Panama can’t afford to shop in them. The ethnic mixture of these malls’ patrons was not too different from what one could find in America. One big difference from American malls was the ubiquitous and highly visible presence of armed security guards. These malls are strategically positioned on the busy thoroughfares of Panama City.
As Hispanics pour across our borders the ethnic mix of America could become in a hundred years similar to that of Panama today. That’s not in itself a bad thing. But the economic divisions along ethnic lines like they have in Panama could become reality in America, and that is a very bad thing.
For one thing, Panama is poor compared to the U.S. Our long slide into socialism will make us similarly poor, because of its destructive effects on entrepreneurship and the work ethic. As the country becomes poorer those with wealth and power will seek to hang onto it. The influx of Hispanics will render whites a minority here. Hispanics will be the majority. Blacks will forever be a minority here. In spite of being a minority, whites over the course of time will have managed to maintain control of disproportionate wealth and most of the power, just like in Panama. America will have become a plantation society like Panama. Most of society will live coarse lives of poverty.
But, you may ask, how can we end up with such an uneven distribution of wealth if socialism’s promise is to distribute wealth evenly? It is because socialism’s promise is inevitably broken. In socialism the marketplace of value must be replaced by the marketplace of pull. In our society, whites are still the majority and are holding all the economic and political cards. As we slide into socialism those who have this kind of head start can leverage their advantages in the marketplace of pull.
The Census Bureau has reported that by 2050 whites will be under 50 percent of Americans for the first time. That is only forty years away. Who knows what a century will bring? But we can be fairly sure that whites will be a small minority in America by 2111. Ten percent? Twenty percent? Who can say for sure? But whites will be a minority and Hispanics will comprise a large majority.
Life in our country will be similar to life in Panama today if we continue our slide into socialism. Whites, though a minority, will control roughly half the wealth and nearly all the political and economic power. But they will live confined lives. They will live in their enclaves and travel only the busy thoroughfares. They will shop and recreate only in the limited safe areas that exist. They will not be able to venture off of their busy thoroughfares or out from their enclaves for fear of being victimized by crime.
We see signs of the transition to this kind of society already. Fifty years ago it was safe to go virtually anywhere in America, at any time of day or night. It was a simpler, more innocent time. But crime has engulfed America. There are large areas of most of our major cities that are dangerous to enter if you look like you have anything worth robbing. These areas of our cities are expanding into the suburbs. The south side of Chicago is ruled by street gangs. The north side of my city of Milwaukee, is the same. In recent years and decades we have seen larger and larger areas of Milwaukee become affected by gang crime. Suburbs such as Wauwatosa have seen it, with large altercations at Mayfair. The south side of Milwaukee is becoming increasingly dangerous and crime-ridden. Smaller towns nearby such as Racine are losing more and more working class neighborhoods, being turned over to crime infested hellholes.
More and more public places such as schools, courthouses, even sporting events, require everyone to pass through metal detectors. It used to be safe to hitchhike or hang out in the park all night. No more. Driving a taxicab has replaced farming as the most dangerous occupation in America. The outcome of a late night walk even for a large guy who’s sober can be deadly, even in some small towns.
Recent events are demonstrating more facets of this coarsening of America. The new term in 2011 is ‘flash mob.’ Large gaggles of black youths coordinated riots in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Philadelphia this year using Facebook and Twitter. These rioters beat up and rob random white victims that they can find.
Social commentators are still trying to sort it out but some conservative pundits may have hit on something when they wonder aloud if this isn’t an outgrowth of the entitlement society these youths live in. Most black children these days grow up without their father. Their mothers in large part depend upon Government to support them. These kids have never known a life other than seeing everything handed to their households and getting away with running wild. It is because socialism and entitlement holds no keys to happiness. Further proof of that is seen in the London riots this year. The United Kingdom is further on the path to socialism than we are, so more disaffection is the result. Most rioters in London have been telling the media and police that they riot because they are angry at the rich. Most of these rioters live off of government largesse. These handouts hold no answers. They hold no keys to a happy life.
What if these flash mobs and riots are not just a passing fad? What if this phenomenon is here to stay? Won’t more affluent folks be reluctant to venture into areas where these rioters live? Won’t areas like the Wisconsin State Fair, which experienced a flash mob this year, require a heavy armed security presence in order to attract the affluent? What will be the long term generational effect of increasing crime and flash mobs? The more affluent will have larger and larger areas they have to stay away from in their own country. This will inevitably hasten the widening of the economic gulf between the classes we are seeing develop in America.
As we experience the continuously widening economic chasm between the classes one can expect more and more creeping socialism. Career minded politicians will continue to get elected by a growing disaffected majority demanding wealth redistribution. This will of course have the opposite of the intended effect, as must happen when the marketplace of value is replaced by the marketplace of pull. In the marketplace of pull the decision makers will increasingly depend upon the expertise of the affluent to run everything even as they depend upon the votes of the poor to keep their jobs.
Relatively affluent whites will continue to flee the cities and many small towns. Street crime will become endemic. Riots will continue. Government leaders will become increasingly powerful as they alternate between coddling the affluent and coddling the disaffected, poor masses. The President will become a virtual dictator, handing out goodies by executive fiat.
The affluent will flee to enclaves in the outskirts of the cities and in selected small towns on the major highways. They will travel only on the busy and well protected thoroughfares. They will work in glitzy districts, blocks away from crime and poverty, like they already do in our nation’s capital. We will have a plantation economy, with such a wide economic chasm between the classes that a white single mom will be able to afford a Mestizo or black full time maid and nanny. But she will be a virtual prisoner in her own country because the crime, poverty, and envy of her countrymen she will experience outside the gates and secure areas she can go. Liberty will be gone, even for the affluent.