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Editor’s note: This editorial is partially adapted from Rachel Campos-Duffy’s monologue on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Dec. 30, 2024.
In the wake of President-elect Trump’s victory, the MAGA movement is grappling with the question of what it means to be “America First.” Is it people or profits? Many argue that America is defined by economic and military power. But America is about more than its GDP growth rate, its stock market, and even its “ideas” of self-governance. It is a physical place where people who share a common history, tradition, and culture come together.
At the heart of the “America First” issue is the escalating online debate over the expansion of the H-1B visa program, which allows American employers to hire foreign workers, and the heated online debate surrounding the expansion of the H-1B visa program, which allows American employers to hire foreign workers. It has been fiercely defended by tech billionaires like Vivek Ramaswamy.
Mr. Ramaswamy and Mr. Musk are competitive and seem sincere in wanting the United States to win against its global adversaries. But the question is, what is your definition of winning? And at whose expense should the game be played?
Musk and Ramaswamy ignite MAGA war over skilled immigrants and American ‘ordinariness’
The H-1B policy was created to bring the “best and brightest” to America and address labor shortages in specialized fields. On paper, it sounds noble. But in reality, the system is being abused, reducing the ability of American workers to fill tech jobs that Americans don’t want to do.
A 2021 U.S. Census Bureau study found that as many as 72% of U.S. STEM graduates don’t even work in STEM-related fields. So, is this really a problem of labor shortage, or is it a problem of companies seeking profits at the expense of citizens who cannot compete with cheap foreign labor?
Who can forget the incident in 2014 when an IT employee at Disney was fired and forced to retrain his foreign-born successor if he wanted to receive severance pay? Americans are not opposed to bringing in more geniuses like Musk. But don’t think that Disney’s foreign successors were all up-and-coming Einsteins. These workers work in restrictive conditions, are poorly paid, work long hours, and are unable to leave their jobs without risking deportation. They also come with the hope of becoming citizens and bringing their families with them through chain migration. This is a rigged game, designed to create cheap labor and make it impossible for Americans to compete.
David Marcus: MAGA’s H-1B “Civil War” is exactly what politics is all about
Ramaswamy argues that the problem lies not in mass immigration but in American culture itself. We need foreign workers, he says, because our culture has “worshipped mediocrity” for decades. We celebrate prom queens more than math champions. A joke about valedictorian.
It’s a convenient theory, but it’s completely off base.
American culture is not the problem. Destroying it is the core of the problem. American culture gave the world electricity, airplanes, automobiles, Elvis, the Internet, Rocky Balboa, and Star Wars. What we are witnessing now is not a failure of American culture, but a deliberate erosion of it. It is a campaign of demoralization fueled by an education system poisoned by decades of mass immigration and cultural Marxism, an ideology that is alien and not at all American.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswami are competitive and seem sincere in wanting America to win against global adversaries. But the question is, what is your definition of winning? And at whose expense should the game be played? (Getty Images)
We won’t restore our greatness by disrespecting prom queens or promoting “America’s last” visa policy. It distracts from the real problems: the dismantling of our national identity, the takeover of our schools by communist activists, and the devaluation of American labor.
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The Constitution states that the American government’s greatest duties are to “promote the general welfare” and “secure the blessings of liberty” of the American people. There was a time when America kept its promise. During a trip to America in the early 19th century, French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville said that America is great because America is good.
Sadly, we are replacing goodness with godlessness. Some of MAGA’s new members are Silicon Valley atheists who envision a future of cold technology and corporations that fail to understand the humanity and vulnerability of our people.
Secularism, transhumanism and AI will never satisfy the soul. America needs a return to God, family, love, and real, not virtual, relationships. And that includes the relationship between our people and our government, a government that truly cares about and prioritizes our people.
The answer to our predicament is not to import millions of people from around the world. The answer is to rediscover who we are. Ben Franklin, the Wright Brothers, Sunday Church, family dinners, rodeos, skyscrapers, rock and roll, Friday Night Lights, and Homecoming Queen. The answer is to fix what has been intentionally broken in our culture and institutions.
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America is not a sports team, and winning in the stock market is not the definition of American success. “America First” is not a slogan. It is a guiding principle.
MAGA aims to honor our history and Christian values. It’s about prioritizing our people, our families, and the American way of life.
Evita Duffy-Alfonso is the host of “Evita and Bongino Report Early Edition.”
For more information about Rachel Campos Duffy, click here
