Integration vs. disintegration

The French were slow to see the gravity of the immigrant riots there, and even slower to see the unrest broiling for years beforehand.

But it should be a quick lesson to the rest of the civilized world: This is what happens when you lose control of your borders - and the fundamental nature of your society changes beyond recognition.

Differing language, traditions, mores and values can divide people, cause friction and, with the proper spark, stoke the fires of anger, resentment and unrest.

France has the added combustible of being ethnically distinct from its immigrant population - and being famously snobbish toward foreigners.

But could the same clash of cultures happen here?

It's difficult to imagine America's immigrant population revolting the way the children of North African Muslim immigrants have done in France. Still, the societal contract in the South of the United States is changing with the flood of illegal immigrants - many of whom do not share a language with the majority of Americans.

To avoid trouble down the road, America must:

- First secure its borders. Only those invited in must be allowed in.

- Require immigrants to learn English. It is the threshold to assimilation, and assimila-tion is the key to preventing the disintegration we see in France.

Our social contracts - our language, our shared values, our traditions and our ways of behaving - are the glue of any society.

France has become unglued. Pray we do not.