George Washington's Children?

A tectonic shift in what America will become is something that the next generation must deal with.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - The United States as we know it is irrevocably changing. The Census Bureau reports that, for the first time, the percentage of whites born in the country has fallen below 50% (49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July). Babies born to Hispanics, blacks and those of mixed race were at 50.4%.

This is a trend. Whites are no longer in the majority in four states and the District of Columbia. They have slipped below half in many major metro areas, including New York, Las Vegas and Memphis. There are 348 counties in which whites are in the minority.

There is no chance for whites to regain ascendancy. The median age for white women is 42, meaning that as a group they have moved out of their primary child-bearing years. Hispanic women, on the other hand, have a median age of 27 and, as a culture tend to have more children per family. Whites will continue to be the largest portion of the population for the next generation but after that the change in America will begin in earnest. Those non-whites who will begin to assume power then, will no doubt be patriotic Americans, but their allegiance to white European-American founders will be problematic. What will they feel they have in common with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, et al?

There is another, highly negative, potential factor. Ruy Teixeira, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress points out that “we do a pretty lousy job of educating the younger generation of minorities.” About 50,000 Latinos turn 18 every month. This can mean that whites will be in the minority, but they will still be in control of a less skilled and educated underclass of minorities which in a global environment would be a recipe for social and economic difficulties.

This is something only our younger readers will see, but they need to be prepared for a tectonic shift in what America will become.

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Daniel Johnson as a teenager aspired to be a writer. Always a voracious reader, he reads more books in a month than many people read in a lifetime. He also reads 100+ online articles per week. He knew early that in order to be a writer, you have to be a reader.

He has always been concerned about fairness in the world and the plight of the underprivileged/underdog.

As a professional writer he sold his first paid article in 1974 and, while employed at other jobs, started selling a few pieces in assorted places.

Over the next 15 years, Daniel eked out a living as a writer doing, among other things, national writing and both radio and TV broadcasting for the CBC, Maclean’s (the national newsmagazine) and a wide variety of smaller publications. Interweaved throughout this period was soul-killing corporate and public relations writing.

It was through the 1960s and 1970s that he got his university experience. In his first year at the University of Calgary, he majored in psychology/mathematics; in his second year he switched to physics/mathematics. He then learned of an independent study program at the University of Lethbridge where he attended the next two years, studying philosophy and economics. In the end he attended university over nine years (four full time) but never qualified for a degree because he didn't have the right number of courses in any particular field.

In 1990 he published his first (and so far, only) book: Practical History: A guide to Will and Ariel Durant’s “The Story of Civilization” (Polymath Press, Calgary)

Newly appointed as the Deputy Executive Editor in August 2011, he has been writing exclusively for Salem-News.com since March 2009 and, as of summer 2011, has published more than 160 stories.