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Strengthening citizenship

November 30, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services today released a new set of questions to be used on a pilot version of the naturalization test given to all immigrants seeking United States citizenship. And The Heritage Foundation was instrumental in ensuring the new test will strengthen American values: Heritage scholar Matthew Spalding was among the outside experts that helped develop the new test.

While the old test emphasized knowledge of basic facts about the United States, the new version requires test-takers to have a deeper understanding of our history and culture. For example, the existing test might ask, “When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?” The new examination would ask would-be citizens to “[n]ame one important idea found in the Declaration of Independence.”

“This is a significant achievement,” said Spalding, Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at Heritage. “Rather than encouraging the rote memorization of mere facts and figures, the new test will emphasize an understanding of the basic core concepts of our political tradition—concepts that all Americans must know to be good citizens.”

“Studying and learning these concepts, the citizenship test will serve to assimilate immigrants and encourage their attachment to America,” he added.

Click here to view a sample list of new questions and possible answers.

The sort of assimilation this new test encourages is an essential part of a strong immigration reform—and it reaffirms our core American principles. Spalding explained earlier this year that “an effective naturalization process would aim to create new citizens who would understand the principles of free government, speak a common language, reflect good character and civic virtue and have a real stake in America’s economic success…In the end, a confident policy to assimilate immigrants must be understood as part of a larger renewal of our principles, a reaffirmation of what we hold to be self-evident.”

The new questions are to be rolled out in a pilot program in 10 cities next year, AFP reports.

Free-enterprise economies vs. welfare-state economies

A few weeks ago, economist Jeffrey Sachs penned an article recommending big government as the key to economic growth and the cure for world poverty. Sachs specifically highlighted Scandinavian countries as examples of economically strong welfare states, which he claimed outperform free-market economies like America’s.

Writing on FoxNews.com, Heritage economist Tim Kane debunks Sachs’ contentions about the superiority of the Scandinavian economic model. After crunching the numbers and correcting for what he calls “statistical sleights-of-hand,” Kane finds that

The results paint a much different picture than that limned by Dr. Sachs. Indeed, the population-weighted analyses shows that the Anglo economies are nearly 20 percent wealthier than the Nordics, enjoy faster growth, and have lower unemployment rates. The only good news for the Norsland: The even less-free economies of the EU are even further behind.

In other words, people are better off in economies that stress free enterprise and not government controls on the economy and cradle-to-grave social benefits. Kane concludes that if Sachs “really wants to end third-world poverty, he’d do well to drop the gimmicky Nordic nostrum, and prescribe the tried-and-true remedy of free-market capitalism.”

Going forward in Iraq

Just days after Iraqi President Jalal Talabani visited Iran and normalized relations with Syria, President Bush is in Jordan to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. “President Bush has good reason to wary of these developments,” Heritage foreign policy expert Peter Brookes writes, “and to hear what Maliki has to say about where these bilateral relationships are going.”

“It’s clear that both Iran and Syria are trying to co-opt Iraq into their sphere of influence,” Brookes explains. “From Tehran’s and Damascus’ perspectives, the fewer Americans in the region to check their plans for hegemony, the better.”

In a new paper, Middle East scholar Jim Phillips elaborates on what President Bush should emphasize at the summit.

The United States did not intervene in Iraq to remedy historic Shiite grievances against Saddam’s Sunni-dominated regime or to build democracy (although this became a supplementary goal after the war). President Bush should return to the basics and remind Prime Minister Maliki that the U.S.’s primary goal was to neutralize the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and to keep such weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

Click here to find out what Iraqi leaders must do to restore stability and build its nation.

In the news

  • After uniform company Cintas announced it would verify its workers’ Social Security numbers to ensure they’re legally allowed to work, a liberal Congressman said the firm could face federal discrimination charges. The Congressman did not explain how upholding federal law is a crime.
  • The new Congress may seek to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, a leftist proposal from the 1970s that last saw light of day a quarter century ago. Liberal activists hope to use the proposed Constitutional amendment to impose government controls on the economy in the name of “non-discrimination.” For instance, they suggest the amendment could “solve” the disparity between men's and women’s wages.
  • Arguing that the design of American currency constitutes government discrimination against the blind, a federal judge has ruled that the Treasury must immediately make the nation’s money resemble foreign bills. Whether or not a currency redesign is a good idea, it’s not at all the role of the judiciary to dictate that design, nor is it the role of a judge to use foreign design precedents when making his decision.
  • Fueled by what one economist  called the “particular strength of the German economy,” the country’s unemployment has fallen to a four-year low—of 9.6 percent. Liberals have claimed the American jobs market is weak, though unemployment in America is less than half of that in Germany.
  • According to The New York Times, members of the Iraq Study Group will recommend the eventual pullback of American forces in Iraq, though they will eschew timetables for this withdrawal.

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.