The Texas school board's setting patriotic curriculum standards for their school textbooks could actually impact the solvency of the western world. This may sound like hyperbole. And, of course, debt and other issues also impact the solvency of the West. But the Texas - American War shows the importance of loyalty to ones' nation. Rather than promoting the multicultural ethnic studies vision in our textbooks, national safety requires that we embrace common sense culturism and promote America in our schools.

In 1832 Mexico passed the first ever immigration law in North America. This law made it illegal for more Anglo immigrants to enter into the Mexican state of Tejas. This law was passed because Mexico understood the culturist truth that demographics are destiny. In 1830 there were 4,000 - 5,000 people of Mexican descent in Tejas and approximately 25,000 Anglo-Americans.

Mexico inherited "ownership" of Tejas when they got independence from Spain. So legally they had held it for about a decade. Spain got it when the Pope divided what they knew of the western hemisphere between them and Portugal in the late 15th century; Portugal got Brazil and Spain got the rest. But, the Native Americans living on the land did not recognize ownership by the Pope, Spain or Portugal. They had largely driven out all Catholic missionaries out of their territories.

Having no luck getting Mexicans to settle in what was called "Tejas" en masse, the Mexican President, Santa Anna, said Anglos could settle in the area if they would swear allegiance to Mexico, learn Spanish, and become Catholic. But that only created paper loyalty. In actuality settlers expected a say in their government (not a Mexican tradition), public schools to be built (not a Mexican tradition), freedom of religion (not a Mexican tradition), laws in English (not a Mexican tradition) and protection from Indians (the Mexican Army could not control this area). Citizenship on paper and loyalty do not always coincide.

It was when these assimilation policies failed that Santa Anna announced that no more Anglo settlers would be allowed in Tejas. The Anglos petitioned for a right to have input into the process by which such laws were decided. It was against such petitions, and in an attempt to enforce absolute Mexican rule over this territory, that Santa Anna came to fight the Anglo usurpers at the Alamo. He lost the War and Tejas became Texas. Demographics were destiny.

As the late Samuel Huntington showed, and this piece of history illustrates, cleft nations - those with a population that doesn't fit the borders - are dangerous. World War One started because the population of the South - East of Austria-Hungary was Serb. We are not immune. And if we have civil strife in our South-West, on top of our financial crisis, our solvency will be diminished. And, if America loses strength, the entire western world will lose an anchor of stability.

Mexican textbooks claim that Texas was stolen from Mexico. Multicultural ethnic studies courses make the same claim, call America "oppressive" and so fight for "social justice." And, I am sure these educators have some valid points - there are two sides to every story. But our schools' job is not to be neutral reporters. Our schools definitely should not teach that America is an oppressive thief. It is a culturist truth that all schools serve to socialize youth with the values of the society they happen to have been born into. Our schools should teach American history to Texas. Fomenting disaffection in a cleft nation is dangerous.

Dr. John K. Press got his doctorate in the History of Education from NYU. He has taught Philosophy, History, Culturism, Psychology, Educational Foundations, and the History of Education at the high school and college level. He is the author of Culturism: A Word, A Value, Our Future. More information on Culturism can be found at www.culturism.us