Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reads that somewhere in Southern California a hispanic baby became the 300,000,000th American. Well huzzah for him (her). Our great republic has officially crested a big population milestone. It seems that population milestones, like birthday milestones, seem to end in the digit “0.” This particular milestone seems to have lots and lots of zeros in it.

Your Maximum Leader will have to admit that he had assumed that the US population had exceeded the 300 million mark some time in the last decade. He must wonder about the accuracy of the 300 million number. Many experts (your Maximum Leader not among them) say that the 300 millionth American was either born or illegally entered the US months ago. The Post article cited above says:

This year, there’s a good chance the 300 millionth American has already walked across the border from Mexico.

Does that really make the person “American?” Have we gotten to the point where simply residing in the United States makes you an American?

Now your Maximum Leader is all for legal immigration. But he is disturbed by the fact that everyone just accepts that to live in America makes you American. Your Maximum Leader wonders from time to time what it really means to be American. Frankly, your address never really figured into that equation. But if that is the biggest criterion for citizenship - we’re in very deep trouble.

In other census related news, it seems as though unmarried households have edged out married households in America as well. 50.2% of US households are headed by a single parent, compared to 49.8% which are headed by married parents. This saddens your Maximum Leader. He came from a traditional two parent household. He is providing his children with a traditional two parent household. There seem to be study after study showing the benefits of living in the two parent household. These studies are alway quickly attacked by groups that don’t want to be seen as supporting traditional families. Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure where he is going with this. He wishes that people would think about what they are doing before they start having children. Of course he also wishes that people were generally less self-centered and more thoughtful about everything…

Anyhoo…

Somewhere out there is the 300,000,000th “American.” Your Maximum Leader wishes him well and hopes that what makes America American is still going strong when he grows up.

Carry on.