General strike—a revolutionary act by people who don’t even belong in this country

Writing at Tech Central Station, Lee Harris argues that the “general strike,” the paró general, far from being in the tradition of the U.S. civil rights movement, is an anarchistic and totalitarian device aimed at breaking down society. “The very idea of a general strike runs contrary to all the traditions of American politics,” he says. “Instead of working within and through the traditional political system, those who championed the general strike have used it as a method of forcing the government to give into their demands by tactics such as taking to the streets and paralyzing the normal course of life.”

He continues:

Many of those who will be closing down cities, in order to influence the policy of the American Congress, are not themselves American citizens. This means that non-Americans will be using the radically un-American tactic of a general strike in order to pressure Congress into acting in their interests, rather than in the interests of the American people. Yet what right do non-citizens have to influence political decisions about the American nation at all? People who are not citizens of the US do not have the right to vote or to hold office. But if we refuse to give non-citizens the traditional political rights of an American citizen, what sense can there be in extending to them the dubious right to use the streets as a path to political power: a right that the American tradition has always repudiated?

It’s an intelligent and interesting article. Unfortunately Harris spoils it in the end with the moronic and anti-American slogan that America is a “nation of immigrants.” I want a national day of protest with a million people in the streets holding signs saying, “We are NOT a nation of immigrants! We are a nation of Americans! And if you don’t like it, get out!”

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 01, 2006 01:50 PM | Send