Michael wrote:Having been born and raised in Southern California, I always considered my cultural heritage to be more Spanish-Mexican than New England Yankee or Southern plantation. With the shifting demographics out here, I think we are looking at a new fertility driven version of Manifest Destiny that's got a Spanish accent. A lot of my fellow Anglos don't seem to like it much.
Plus our concept of "Manifest Destiny" was taken from the Franco-Normans. When the Norse and Franks combined by a combination of invasion and treaty they had a glut of nobility and a shortage of land combined with superior castle erecting skill. When you look at the names of royalty in Europe in the middle ages you notice a change taking place between 1000AD to 1300AD. The Wulfs, Eathalbalds, and Lothairs start getting replaced by Williams and Henrys. The Crusades and the Reconquest was not so much of a Holy War than it was a bunch of titled people looking for land to rule (which is why they carved out territory from Byzantium).
The Spanish and the Portuguese were last true expansionists, having been Franco-Norman nobility kicking out the Arabs from Iberia they were still looking for land...and the discovery of the New World probably saved North Africa from becoming Latin again since they moved there.
The Catholic empires were much different than the Protestant ones in administration. The Iberians conquered and ruled and set up the same Feudal system that gave them wealth in the old world and they kept that Tradition in the New World longer. The Protestant countries got rid of religious dissidents by allowing them to move away to a place that got them out the way of those in power but they were still beholden to them for tariffs and trade.
Both are forms of Manifest Destiny and both have the same political roots but the Spanish/Mexican one is the one that is more authentic to the old Norman one. The only way they are really going to win is if we fight them. You cannot beat hardscrabble people who have a massive birth rate, good work ethic and excellent food. But you can get them to adopt your values and your systems..like the Greeks did with the Slavs. The Greeks of today are mostly Slav by blood but with a thorough and undeniable Greek culture.