> Last time you made an argument like this, I pointed out it ignores the importance of figures like Daniel Mannix (Irish Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, 1917-1963) and B.A.Santamaria (Italian Catholic anti-communist activist; his height of political influence was in the 1950s) in Australia’s political history - between them those two men changed the outcome of more than one national election
I’m not denying that immigrant groups were influential in Australia. But even today, 60% of Australia is English or “Australian” (which is mostly English). 80% are from the British Isles. By contrast, English are not even the plurality in most U.S. states: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_of_the_Unite.... Germans are the most common in the Midwest; Italians are the most common in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut; Mexicans are the most common in the southwest; etc.
That has led to a completely different political mentality, where for more than a century, the center-left party has largely been organized around mobilizing its ethnic factions to “turn out” to vote. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall.
Of course you’re correct that Canada has a similar problem: the British were actually the ones who took over and supplanted the French founding population. They agreed to split up the country and give the French a great deal of latitude to do their own thing. That has mitigated what otherwise would have created tremendous conflict.
You’re certainly seeing more of that in Canada and Australia now given the mass immigration from Asia. But in the US this is been happening for 170 years or so. We’ll see if Canada and Australia are still well functioning and efficient after Chinese and Indian ethnic politics becomes a major force.
> But even today, 60% of Australia is English or “Australian” (which is mostly English). 80% are from the British Isles
From my perspective, you keep on wrongly downplaying the role that Irish Australians have played in Australian history. You acknowledge the significance of Irish Americans in American history, but ignore that Irish Australians are at least as significant in Australia's history, arguably even more so. By some estimates, 30% of Australians have Irish ancestry. [0] From the beginnings of British colonisation up until at least the end of WW2, the Irish have been Australia's single largest ethnic minority; in the US, I doubt they held that title for long (if ever), ending up being outnumbered by the Germans. The first substantial armed rebellion against British rule in Australia (there have not been many) was carried out by Irish convicts in 1804 near Sydney, many of whom were veterans of the 1798 United Irishmen Rebellion. [1] You seem to view Australia as a country which is mostly English, when the truth is that the majority of Australians have non-English ancestry (of course, English and non-English ancestry are not mutually exclusive categories).
> the center-left party has largely been organized around mobilizing its ethnic factions to “turn out” to vote
Irish-Australians have played a rather comparable role in the history of Australia's main center-left party (Labor) to what Irish-Americans have played in the Democratic Party. [2]
> You’re certainly seeing more of that in Canada and Australia now given the mass immigration from Asia. But in the US this is been happening for 170 years or so.
When you consider Irish immigration – in 1871, 25% of overseas-born Australians were born in Ireland [3] – it has been happening in Australia since the 19th century – which is significant given that modern Australian history begins in 1788.
I’m not denying that immigrant groups were influential in Australia. But even today, 60% of Australia is English or “Australian” (which is mostly English). 80% are from the British Isles. By contrast, English are not even the plurality in most U.S. states: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_of_the_Unite.... Germans are the most common in the Midwest; Italians are the most common in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut; Mexicans are the most common in the southwest; etc.
That has led to a completely different political mentality, where for more than a century, the center-left party has largely been organized around mobilizing its ethnic factions to “turn out” to vote. E.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall.
Of course you’re correct that Canada has a similar problem: the British were actually the ones who took over and supplanted the French founding population. They agreed to split up the country and give the French a great deal of latitude to do their own thing. That has mitigated what otherwise would have created tremendous conflict.
You’re certainly seeing more of that in Canada and Australia now given the mass immigration from Asia. But in the US this is been happening for 170 years or so. We’ll see if Canada and Australia are still well functioning and efficient after Chinese and Indian ethnic politics becomes a major force.