[applause] >> next up was someone an enormous brain, ramesh ponnuru. >> not as big as my mouth. a lot of the concerns about immigration policy yet been discussed here. matters that have to do with economics and morality. what i thought i would do is talk a little bit about an initiative that tends to get under-emphasized in these conversations, and that is assimilation. people mean different things when they use that word. what i mean in saying that our immigration and post-immigration policies ought to be oriented towards assimilation is simply that we should want newcomers to the united states to have a good shot at becoming successful americans who can support themselves rather than rely on taxpayers, who can and do fully participate in local, state, and national political deliberations, fully participate in our culture, and who see themselves and are seen by others as americans. these are things we should want and these are things we should take steps to achieve. assimilation should not come in my view, mean the elimination of what is distinctive about immigrant cultures. th

last, my friend, ramesh ponnuru a columnist for "bloomberg view." he's published articles in numerous newspapers, including "the new york times," "washington post," "wall street journal" and the "financial times." he's also the author -- i didn't even know this until today -- of a mono graph that a.e.i. published in 1995 called "the mystery of japanese growth." he's a fellow of at stanford's hoover institution. here's how this is going to work. we'll have our panelists each talk for about 10 minutes, and i may ask questions as we go along. but we're going to leave plenty of time for questions from the audience. so as you're listening to our panelists, please keep in mind that we'll have microphones that will go around later so we can have a nice spirited discussion. so with that, i'm going to start with alfonso, open up with you. >> thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you this morning. certainly i think there has been, since the election, a seismic change in the political landscape when it comes to latinos and immigration. and i'm enc

and last but certainly not least, my friend ramesh ponnuru for the "national review" magazine and a columnist for bloomberg of view he's published articles in numerous newspapers including "the new york times," "washington post" will street journal, financial times. he is also the author and i didn't even know this until today of a monograph that aei published in 1995 called the mystery of japanese growth. he is a fellow at the institute of economic affairs in london and a media fellow at stanford university's hoover institution. thank you for joining us today. this is all this is going to work we are going to have the panel each talk for about 20 minutes and i may ask questions as we go along but we are going to leave plenty of time for questions from the audience as you are listening to the panelists please keep in mind we will have microphones the will go round leader so you can have a nice and spirited discussion. with about i'm going to start with alfonso and open up with you. thanks. >> thank you for the opportunity to be with you this morning. certainly i think there has been since the