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When did this country go from "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" to "Either come here with something to offer or GTFO"?
When did this country go from "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" to "Either come here with something to offer or GTFO"?
When we no longer had an entire continent's worth of undeveloped land, when pure muscle power was no longer the best way of getting work done, when people became compelled to support the disadvantaged via a welfare state instead of charity being optional, when multiculturalism became all the rage rather than assimilation, when global markets made international trade fiercely competitive, and when drug smuggling and terrorism became commonplace.
As Milton Friedman said, you can have a welfare state or you can open borders but you can't have both.
The flood of Mexicans are not coming here to be "free" because Mexico is not that type of country.
They are coming here because of all the "free stuff" that we provide to the poor.
They can breathe free in Mexico but Mexico won't give them free food, cellphones, or educate their children.
When we no longer had an entire continent's worth of undeveloped land, when pure muscle power was no longer the best way of getting work done, when people became compelled to support the disadvantaged via a welfare state instead of charity being optional, when multiculturalism became all the rage rather than assimilation, when global markets made international trade fiercely competitive, and when drug smuggling and terrorism became commonplace.
As Milton Friedman said, you can have a welfare state or you can open borders but you can't have both.
In bold, above.
If charity donations to help the poor had ben kept strictly voluntary, we wouldn't have an exponentially growing welfare-dependent class.
Two insurmountable factors that are going to totally screw our society, and increasingly reduce the standard of living in the U.S.:
The problem with means-tested government social welfare programs is that they perpetuate and create additional poverty by financially incentivizing irresponsible behavior.
I say if we are going to have open borders then shut down and end all means tested social welfare programs.
The other entitlement programs (SS and medicare) need to be modified so that only those that work and contribute via FICA can get benefits.
Limit government payouts to those that financially contribute to the system.
We have over 100 means tested programs that cost $1 trillion a year and is growing at 20% annually.
When we no longer had an entire continent's worth of undeveloped land, when pure muscle power was no longer the best way of getting work done, when people became compelled to support the disadvantaged via a welfare state instead of charity being optional, when multiculturalism became all the rage rather than assimilation, when global markets made international trade fiercely competitive, and when drug smuggling and terrorism became commonplace.
As Milton Friedman said, you can have a welfare state or you can open borders but you can't have both.
Exactly, and since when should a poem on a statue dictate our immigration policies? Some people fail to understand simple concepts such as our population numbers then vs now, our shortage of jobs and natural and social resources today.
When the people coming here stopped doing so with the intent of being ambitious and stopped having the intent of coming here and becoming Americanized. I remember an educational film we saw in 7th grade (1977) about immigrants wishing to become US citizens, the film was made by the State Department, it showed an interview where they required evidence that you could read and write English, when did that stop
Go over and read a few dozen threads on the Californa CD page and you will deadly find that there arte many environmental advocates calling for a legislated cap on CA's population, as long as no immigrants from Mexico are turned away. Why is it a progressive mantra that an illegal migrant has more right to move to Califonia and have a job and own a home than an US citizen moving from New York, and don't even think of calling fowl on this, there are plenty there who demand this and brag they are progressives for doing so.
I see all this advocacy for progressivism, and how anyone not on board is some kind of sub-human neanderthal. Also see form the same posters praise for Australia as a progressive leader, do you think AU would tolerate our current immigration situation.
No, FWIW, I do not buy the lack of land argument. It is the plethora of federal land use regulations that disallows proper planning to reasonably support another 50 million or so. Again, I am amazed that there are progressive enviromentalists over at the DC board decrying the severe impact of a DINK couple from NY moving to CA, but scream hater when you ask why it is then OK for an illegal Mexican couple with 6 kids to move here instead.
When did this country go from "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" to "Either come here with something to offer or GTFO"?
How do you feel about the tired, poor and huddled masses coming here and infringing on the rights of the people who were born here, pay taxes here and hope for a bright future for their children?
That original quote was written when the American west was wide open and we actually NEEDED more citizens.
Do you want to see this a nation of 1 billion mostly poor and uneducated in the future? Because that is exactly where we are heading.
The problem with means-tested government social welfare programs is that they perpetuate and create additional poverty by financially incentivizing irresponsible behavior.
This is LBJ's "Great Society". How do you like it ?
This is LBJ's "Great Society". How do you like it ?
It traps ever-increasing numbers of people into poverty. As such, it was/is an unmitigated disaster.
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