We are a nation of immigrants frequently riven by anti-immigrant fever. Those new people have no right to live here. They aren’t Americans. They came from peculiar places, speak oddball tongues, and have funny names — like Estefan, Bezos, and Drumph. But soon we are dancing to their music, buying everything we own on their website, and voting for them, under their new, Americanized name, Trump.

The ironies are pretty blatant. Trump is only two generations away from Germany and one from Scotland. But even if your ancestors fought in the Revolution, they came here from somewhere else. Even the so-called Native-Americans crossed a land bridge from another continent. Foreigners all.

Even more embarrassing is the fact that immigrants seeking to become American often know more about the country and its history than the native-born citizens who oppose their naturalization.

A 2017 study found that true-blue Americans performed dismally on the test that all applicants fro citizenship must pass. Only 37 percent could name one of five rights enumerated in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Only 33 percent could name all three branches of government. Fewer and fewer public schools require a course in Civics to graduate, and it shows.

Ignorance of our history, traditions and form of government may contribute to the willingness of so many to espouse views and policies that would appear to be profoundly unAmerican and to elect similar know nothings to lead the nation, to listen to them rant on the TV and radio, and to wear their made-in-China jingoistic hats.

I was winding myself up to bemoan the self-destructive decline of our citizenry, but then found an interesting article that suggests an ill-educated citizenry (and electorate) is nothing new. It’s practically traditional. In 1917, of 1,500 native-born Texans given the citizenship test of that era, only 33% of high school students got enough correct answers to pass, and only 45% of university students.

In 1943 (apparently conducting such studies peaks during wartime), a similar look at 7,000 college freshmen discovered that only 13% knew who was president during the War of 1812 (Madison, by the way). In 1976, 2,000 college freshman got only 42% of the questions right on the citizenship’s multiple choice exam.

Today, applicants for citizenship must pass a brief multiple choice exam chosen from 100 questions that they can study in advance, and must demonstrate proficiency in English — something many of our fellow native-born neighbors might struggle to achieve. Ninety-one percent of actual applicants for citizenship pass the test. This might make one suspect the test is too easy, though the immigrants applying are highly motivated to succeed since their future depends on it.

By contrast, when native-born Americans took the same test last year only 60% passed. Obviously, if you don’t study American history and government, don’t care about it, and don’t have to, you probably aren’t going to do well on such a test. But since nothing is at stake, our fellow Americans are able to maintain a blissful ignorance of their country with no penalty.

Still, it is worth pointing out that the citizenship test they fail is at a pretty rudimentary level. Here are a few sample questions.

Name one American war fought in the 1900s.

Name three of the original 13 states.

Under the Constitution, some rights belong to the states. Name one.

Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.

Name the congressional representative for the place where you reside.

Who was president during World War I?

Name a right or freedom guaranteed in the First Amendment.

Name one of the writers of the Federalist.

Note that you don’t have to have read a sentence of the Federalist Papers, just come up with Hamilton, Madison or Jefferson. Trick answer. Actually, the third guy was John Jay, not Jefferson.

Never heard of him? Well, in addition to the collaborating on the Federalist, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris to end the Revolutionary War, was first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and second Governor of New York.

If we want better citizens, perhaps we should let the immigrants who pass the test stay and kick out the Americans who do not. Or require Americans to perform as well as immigrants or be subject to a penalty. A fine, community service, or deprivation of something they value.

If you don’t pass your driver’s license exam, you don’t get to drive. The pass rate is high because the test takers really want to drive. Maybe the DMV should add a citizenship test to the driver’s exam, alongside the traffic signs. Or the IRS could make tax refunds dependent on a passing grade on the citizenship test

I’d suggest that perhaps those who can’t pass the test should be deprived of the right to vote, but only about half of us vote already. And it’s probably too late to put those who fail the test in the stocks for a day, down on the town square as our Puritan ancestors did unto those who committed transgressions against the community.

Probably, we will continue to be a Republic of immigrants, scornful of immigrants, who know less about our native land than the newcomers we want to keep out. God bless America, our home sweet home.

That was written by Israel Beilin, by the way, who was born in Russia and came to America at the age of five and changed his name to Irving Berlin. Build the wall!