What’s wrong with America that it needs “transforming”?

John Derbyshire, an immigrant like me, at The Corner today:

This whole business of “transforming America” strikes me as odd. It’s a big theme for leftist politicians, and always gets wild cheers. But do any large number of Americans actually want this country “transformed”?

On Radio Derb last week I noted Rep. Luis Gutierrez telling the House immigration subcommittee that through mass immigration we “transform America and make it a vital, energetic economic engine of the future.” I asked:

What’s wrong with America that it needs “transforming”? At which point did Americans ask to have their nation “transformed”? Are Americans so dissatisfied with their nation in its current state that they want it “transformed”? Where is the evidence for that? Why would leaving the U.S.A. un-transformed — just the way it is — why would that be a bad policy?

I fell in love with America at first sight when I arrived here in 1973. The energy and vigor; the widespread generosity and kindness (I couldn’t have spent Thanksgiving alone if I’d wanted to); the ease with which you could get things done; the universal patriotism — flags everywhere on the Fourth, the anthem at Yankee Stadium … I guess I’m coloring it with nostalgia to some degree, but I do remember how wonderful it all seemed — wonderful, wonderful.

Why did it need “transforming”? It was a really nice place. And why does it still need transforming?

Precisely! I fell so much in love with America the first time I came here on vacation in 1977 that I decided to return in 1978 permanently. Only those who hate it want to transform it.