Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It seems like the main justification I hear for keeping the immigrants rolling in, from both the Left and Right in America, is that we're a "nation of immigrants". They point to, for example, the wave of Irish immigrants 100 years ago.
But aren't the circumstances a lot different today?
Not as much space. 100 years ago, there was still plenty of land to move to. Now it's all gobbled up, so that more people means pricer housing and propoerty.
Not as many jobs. Automation, outsourcing, and so forth have already created a situation where there is a lot of competition for jobs. There is not even enough jobs being created for the native-born Americans entering the working age, and yet we need to bring in more people to compete for the limited number of jobs?
Welfare. When the Irish immigrants came, it was work or starve. Nowadays, you come here and you are automatically entitled to tax dollars for not working, to unlimited $$$ for college tuition, to "health care", etc. It's been shown that today's immigrants are taking more in tax dollars than they are paying in tax dollars.
Not as easy to assimilate. Since America is such a culuturally divided country, there is no longer a "melting pot." Obviously it was easier for the Irish immigrants since America was 95% Christian, 95% White, 95% watched baseball, 95% spoke English in their homes, etc.
The Irish came here during and after the Civil War. They began forming unions and other trade groups. This led to the import of eastern and southern Europeans by the ruling class. What the ruling class didn't bank on was that the Italians and eastern Europeans already knew about unions. After some initial skirmishes especially between the Italians and the established Irish, the Italians and others joined those unions.
As late as 1893, land was being given away in Oklahoma.
Don't you see that the ruling class is doing the same thing to everyone that it did to the Irish back then.
The Irish didn't have it that easy. They were Catholics in what was still an English Protestant country.
Sorry but the USA is a nation of Americans. Some of them happened to have been immigrants at one time.
After you naturalize you are a citizen, not an immigrant. You used to be an immigrant, no longer, now you are a citizen.
Its people who can't figure out the difference between immigrant and citizen that is part of the problem. The agenda of course, is to dilute what citizenship means.
This is really simple and here for those who still can't figure it out.
Immigrate is what you do. Citizen is what you are.
Immigrant is someone coming to and trying to be a Citizen.
Sorry but the USA is a nation of Americans. Some of them happened to have been immigrants at one time.
After you naturalize you are a citizen, not an immigrant. You used to be an immigrant, no longer, now you are a citizen.
Its people who can't figure out the difference between immigrant and citizen that is part of the problem. The agenda of course, is to dilute what citizenship means.
This is really simple and here for those who still can't figure it out.
Immigrate is what you do. Citizen is what you are.
Immigrant is someone coming to and trying to be a Citizen.
Get it now?
True. I always say a scrap of paper does not make you an American either. Lot of flag of convenience folks here. They Do not care about this country.
It seems like the main justification I hear for keeping the immigrants rolling in, from both the Left and Right in America, is that we're a "nation of immigrants". They point to, for example, the wave of Irish immigrants 100 years ago.
But aren't the circumstances a lot different today?
Not as much space. 100 years ago, there was still plenty of land to move to. Now it's all gobbled up, so that more people means pricer housing and propoerty.
Not as many jobs. Automation, outsourcing, and so forth have already created a situation where there is a lot of competition for jobs. There is not even enough jobs being created for the native-born Americans entering the working age, and yet we need to bring in more people to compete for the limited number of jobs?
Welfare. When the Irish immigrants came, it was work or starve. Nowadays, you come here and you are automatically entitled to tax dollars for not working, to unlimited $$$ for college tuition, to "health care", etc. It's been shown that today's immigrants are taking more in tax dollars than they are paying in tax dollars.
Not as easy to assimilate. Since America is such a culuturally divided country, there is no longer a "melting pot." Obviously it was easier for the Irish immigrants since America was 95% Christian, 95% White, 95% watched baseball, 95% spoke English in their homes, etc.
We are nowhere near that point where all of the land in the US is "gobbled up" and one of the current trends is for denser urban living. There are ways around this issue.
Many people drastically underestimate how culturally diverse late nineteenth and early twentieth century America was. My hometown of Dayton, Ohio featured neighborhoods where several languages were zookeeper and featured German language schools and newspapers. I can think of a small Ohio River mining town in Appalachian Ohio that had newspapers in three different languages. Much of America is actually less diverse now than then. Over a hundred languages were spoken in NYC.
People have argued against immigration from the beginning of this country. Benjamin Franklin said the Germans would never assimilate or learn English. It was a stupid argument then and it is a stupid argument now
Not sure what type of relationship the USA had with the various German states back then, but I don't think Germany was filled with religious fanatics who believed killing Americans would get them 72 Virgins.....just a minor difference.
I think an argument could be made late 1700 and early 1800 America admired Prussia. We don't really look up to Syria or Somalia.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let's Get the History Right
