Since the very formation of the United States, millions of people have entered this great nation as pilgrims, refugees, entrepreneurs, opportunists, nomads, missionaries, and pioneers as eloquently noted by sapient author Cole P. Zail in his AMAC Magazine Summer 2018 article "Immigration: Solidarity, Identity, and the American Dream."
At its core, America is a country that unites people, however vast their differences may be, in the pride and exceptionalism of being able to call oneself an American. In a country made up of people from every race and nationality on earth, it's pertinent we preserve the significance of legal immigration, assimilation, and the process of becoming a naturalized American citizen.
While we should celebrate our unique differences, we should, perhaps more importantly, celebrate the fact that we have joined together and blended ourselves into one nation, in spite of these vast differences. America's Founding Fathers were wise; they knew that our national strength could be preserved through unity. However, individuals who are not citizens do not have a right to American citizenship without the consent of the American people.
As such, e pluribus unum exemplifies this unity and distills the essence of the United States, highlighting how we are a nation of individuals united by shared ideas and values, rather than by race or origin. Our populace is not bonded together by blood or birthplace, rather, we are united by our adherence to mutual values and our commitment to the Constitution. Becoming an American citizen has nothing to do with ancestry or ethnic identity; being American is a state of mind and a devotion to beliefs.
This spirit of unity, this celebration of American citizenship, this shared faith in a national ideal-this is the true majesty of our great nation. Unfortunately for America and its legalized citizens-illegal immigration does not abide by these ideals-and its inherent costs to America's taxpayers, its assault on the core principles of the American Dream, and its disregard of American immigrations laws-all present clear and present dangers as this textbook will clearly, concisely and factually demonstrate.
Corey Lee Wilson was raised an atheist by his liberal Playboy Bunny mother, has three Anglo-Latino siblings, a brother who died of AIDS, a biracial daughter, baptized a Protestant by his conservative grandparents, attended temple with his Jewish foster parents, baptized again as a Catholic for his first Filipina wife, attends Buddhist ceremonies with his second Thai wife, became an agnostic on his own free will for most of his life, and is a lifetime independent voter.Corey felt the sting of intellectual humility by repeating the 4th grade and attended 18 different schools (17 in California and one in the Bahamas) before putting himself through college at Mt. San Antonio College (without parents) and Cal Poly Pomona University (while on triple secret probation). Named Who's Who of American College Students in 1984, he received a BS in Economics (summa cum laude) and won his fraternity's most prestigious undergraduate honor, the Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity's Shideler Award, both in 1985.As a satirist and fraternity man, Corey started Fratire Publishing in 2012 and transformed the fiction "fratire" genre to a respectable and viewpoint diverse non-fiction genre promoting practical knowledge and wisdom to help everyday people navigate safely through the many hazards of life. In 2019, he founded the SAPIENT Being to help promote freedom of speech, viewpoint diversity, intellectual humility and most importantly advance sapience in America's students and campuses.
