"There is something of the same idea at the back of the great American experiment; the experiment of a democracy of diverse races which has been compared to a melting-pot. But even that metaphor implies that the pot itself is of a certain shape and a certain substance; a pretty solid substance. The melting-pot must not melt. The original shape was traced on the lines of Jeffersonian democracy; and it will remain in that shape until it becomes shapeless. America invites all men to become citizens; but it implies the dogma that there is such a thing as citizenship." -- G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw In America
America is a melting pot, but if it is to remain America, the pot cannot also melt. America must either mean something or it will mean nothing. If it welcomes outsiders into her border, it must welcome them into something and those added in must be melted into the ingredients in the pot without expecting the pot to change its shape to accommodate their presence in the porridge.
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