Indeed, Putnam's research found that America's increasing ethnic diversity has itself been a factor in weakening community bonds. I'm not saying immigrants are evil people. The last time we had this crisis, we had a lot of immigration. Mike Bielecki, an aide to Gov. Jane Hull, points to other factors. Ours is a mobile society, especially in Arizona.
Phoenix is one giant suburb.
We're not as physically close to others. Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox makes the same point, in reverse. She points to car clubs, veterans groups and youth sports as a pool for potential Hispanic volunteers. It wasn't always so. He was talking about life in the agrarian, frontier society of the 1830s.