by Author David GOODHART.
The root problem with separatist multiculturalism is that minority Britons are encouraged to identify first as a member of that minority and only second, if at all, as a citizen. And this has made it harder for ordinary Britons to think of some minorities, and especially Muslims, as part of the same community as them, with common experiences and interests.
The problem with mass immigration is that, without integration, it damages the internal solidarity of a country such as ours.
And if values and lifestyles become more diverse, it becomes more difficult to sustain the legitimacy of the welfare state.
Most of us are no longer asked to risk death for our country, but we are asked to pay around one third of our income into a common national pool and, in return, the state manages large bits of infrastructure for us — such as defence, transport, energy, public services, welfare and so on.
For this to work, the modern citizen is expected to conform to a thicket of rules and regulations. And in order to sustain this level of sharing and co-operation, we need at least some sense of ‘emotional citizenship’, the belief that, despite many different interests, we’re also part of the same team.
I fear that large-scale, poorly managed immigration is endangering this social contract.
Britain is a welfare democracy. Existing citizens have rights of national ownership. Extending the idea of equal citizenship to millions of outsiders raises the problem of how to reconcile the special rights of existing citizens with those of new ones.
It is a problem we ignore at our peril.
- Adapted from The British Dream by David Goodhart, to be published by Atlantic Books on April 1, 2013 at £20. © David Goodhart. To order a copy for £14 (including p&p), call 0844 472 4157.
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