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Well, I don't know what busterb's point was, but Teddy's little diatribe sounds a bit xenophobic to me. Sure, we shouldn't allow people to come over here and be citizens while at the same time working actively to overthrow the government on behalf of some foreign power, but I have no problem with "hyphenated" Americans. So someone is Mexican-American. BFD. This is an English speaking country, so if people want to get anywhere here, it would be helpful for them to learn English. If they want to speak Swahili or pig Latin in the privacy of their own homes, I couldn't care less.
As far as a person becoming in every facet an American, look at the Pennsylvania Dutch. They've been here longer than a lot of other folks, they still speak a form of German dialect among themselves, and they haven't exactly blended into the main stream. I notice that none of them have tried to blow up any government buildings lately, either.
Old Teddy made his pronouncement at the turn of the last century when this country was getting flooded with European immigrants. Folks were feeling pretty overwhelmed by them all, and you can see that in Teddy's statement. Given the times, his words were actually rather magnanimous of him.
Bully.
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