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I disagree with that. My wife is loyal to Canada and to the United States.
Fine and dandy...as long as there's never a conflict....at which time she MAY just have to choose between one and the other...At one time, Canada housed thousands of American draft-resisters. America regarded them as fugitives..Canada regarded them as 'guests'. Obviously, they HAD to 'choose' Canada, and stay AWAY from the US...at least for many years after the Viet Nam war.
Millinions of people become US citizen every year.
So what if a natural-born US citizen abandon their US citizenship and become citizen of the other country?
Legal immigration traditionally involves changing citizenship from one country to that of another. That is as it should be, and that's how it's usually been done, in the past. No 'betrayal' involved, but a life-changing decision to 'put away the old' and 'begin the new'.
I do NOT, however, agree with the concept of 'dual citizenship', because I believe that citizenship in its very definition implies SOME measure of loyalty to the country of which you're a citizen. You can SAY you're loyal to TWO countries...or to three, or to ten...but at some point, you must choose. What happens if a "dual citizen" has duties to BOTH countries, and there's a conflict? He'd have to choose sides...at which point, he'd be loyal to ONE, and disloyal to the other...possibly even guilty of treason.
You can have a Visa card, AND a Mastercard, AND an American Express card...but these things don't require any 'loyalty'. You can drink Coke, AND drink Pepsi, without conflict..because these things require no commitment. But you can't swear loyalty to the laws of ONE country, and agree to 'put it above all others'.....and do the same thing for a second or a third country, too. At some point, someone's getting short-changed.
Dual citizenship, IMHO, can work ONLY if being a 'citizen' really means nothing more than the right to share a nation's 'goodies' and 'freebies'. It's possible that this is now how citizenship is defined..(obviously some people think this way). If THAT'S the case, then by all means, become a citizen of as many places as you wish...the more, the merrier.
If, however, citizenship involves loyalty and 'duty', then you can't "be one thing" and still "be another".
What do you mean by being "loyal"?
If you obey the laws in all the countries you are OK. Period.
It's like asking if a person who switches from Coke to Pepsi, or from wearing navy neckties to silver ones betrays something.
The more people change citizenship, the better. Democracy is a sham - moving is the only way to control what government you live under (or hopefully someday none at all).
If you obey the laws in all the countries you are OK. Period.
OK. Fine with me. Tomorrow I might try Belgium. Next week, if I'm in the mood, I MIGHT go with Saudi Arabia, or Sri Lanka....unless Myanmar calls me first.....then later, maybe the People's Republic of China AND Taiwan..then Israel, AND Syria. No problems, right? I'll just get along with everybody.
I'll need a new wallet, of course, to hold all my credentials.
If this works, I'm going to look into becoming a Roman Catholic Muslim Jew. Should be interesting.
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
39,031 posts, read 23,023,210 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ovcatto
I wish there had been talk boards in the 19th Century so we could read nativist making this argument about immigrant Irish Catholics and Italians.
Dude the US is now and has always been about amalgamation not assimilation. We take as much from our immigrant fellow citizens as we give. With each new wave of immigration American culture changes and when it ceases to change it will stagnate and die.
First of all, it ain't dude (did you notice the Ms in front of my name)
Second of all, assimilation does not mean giving up all aspects of your culture. If everyone kept their own cultural practices and made no attempts at assimilating, then we'd loss our cohesion as a nation. As English is our primary language in the US, it would behoove an immigrant to learn it as that is one of the biggest keys to moving ahead in society.
I don't believe in citizenship.
The more people change citizenship, the better. Democracy is a sham - moving is the only way to control what government you live under (or hopefully someday none at all).
You might want to discuss this with the folks in Somalia. By definition, I believe most experts in such matters agree that today, for all practical purposes, Somalia has in effect, "no government at all". If this is your ideal, I think they might warn you that living in a state of anarchy isn't much fun.
Living without any government at all would be a great 'kick'..until the rapists, the thugs, the bullies, and the armed psychoes came out of their hideways and started running around. If you're determined to really have NO government, better make sure you pick some pretty trustworthy neighbors.
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
39,031 posts, read 23,023,210 times
Reputation: 36027
Quote:
Originally Posted by macmeal
You might want to discuss this with the folks in Somalia. By definition, I believe most experts in such matters agree that today, for all practical purposes, Somalia has in effect, "no government at all". If this is your ideal, I think they might warn you that living in a state of anarchy isn't much fun.
Too many folks take our freedoms for granted that they don't realize that they owe our high standard of living to our form of government. Maybe he/she should move to Somolia or some where else where they don't need to worry about government or citizenship.
Have you forgotten those immigrants put learning the language on the top of their list. You didn't see them waving their native country flag while begging for immigration rights.
The irish came here speaking english due to english occupation of their land and policies that encouraged (forced) them to abandon their own culture, including making it illegal to speak irish.
Have you forgotten those immigrants put learning the language on the top of their list. You didn't see them waving their native country flag while begging for immigration rights.
My husband's grandmother never learned English. She didn't have to; there were lots of Swedish speakers in the Oakland, Nebraska of her day. Her husband became a citizen, and I believe at that time, doing so made her a citizen too. DH's father spoke Swedish until he started school. This story has many repititions all over America.
Quote:
Originally Posted by msconnie73
What opportunities will exist for immigrants to improve their lot in life if they don't learn the language of the land?
I do agree with the above. DH's grandfather learned English b/c it was the language of "commerce".
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