get_involved
Gold Member
- Jul 16, 2009
- 2,046
- 430
- 130
Some accuse us of opposition to "progress." Or of impractical nostalgia, if we long for a less-congested America. But is the quality of life made better by the addition of 100 million people to the U.S. since 1970?
Let's give each other glimpses of places we have loved in our lives that really don't exist any more because of massive population growth (most of it driven by national immigration policies).
A fishing hole? A secluded path through the woods? A marsh where we observed the birds and much more? A special hunting spot? Any kind of open space at the edge of town?
In fact, the edge of town is where destruction is usually the greatest. Were you once able to get to nature and open spaces in far less time than you can today? How about a treasured place of quaintness and a strong sense of community that has been dramatically changed by additional lanes of traffic or the swallowing of small towns and rural crossroads by ever-spreading metropolitan masses?
The population growth that destroyed your beloved place may not have been directly driven by immigration. But immigration -- and the descendants of immigration -- since 1970 have accounted for most U.S. population growth. And the settlement in one place by large numbers of immigrants often is a factor in Americans moving and causing large-scale population growth in another place.
Keep in mind, though, that the problems we are looking at are not caused by immigrants but by the population growth that immigration policies have forced.
I recall talking to a 90-year-old man who had lived in Los Angeles all his life who nearly wept in explaining how much he still missed the fragrance of the orange groves that once had been a constant companion.
Heck, I miss the fact that when I moved to the Washington D.C. area in 1987 I could drive about 10 minutes and begin to wind through bucolic farmland. Now, I can drive for a half-hour (non-rush hour) and see little other than cookie-cutter condo developments, strip malls and treeless tract houses.
While Members of Congress fall all over themselves not only to continue to force 300 million more people into this country this century but actually increase the rate of growth, we really need to remind ourselves, our fellow citizens and our elected officials what can be lost in the process.
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/...ut-some-special-place-your-life-has-been-ruin
Let's give each other glimpses of places we have loved in our lives that really don't exist any more because of massive population growth (most of it driven by national immigration policies).
A fishing hole? A secluded path through the woods? A marsh where we observed the birds and much more? A special hunting spot? Any kind of open space at the edge of town?
In fact, the edge of town is where destruction is usually the greatest. Were you once able to get to nature and open spaces in far less time than you can today? How about a treasured place of quaintness and a strong sense of community that has been dramatically changed by additional lanes of traffic or the swallowing of small towns and rural crossroads by ever-spreading metropolitan masses?
The population growth that destroyed your beloved place may not have been directly driven by immigration. But immigration -- and the descendants of immigration -- since 1970 have accounted for most U.S. population growth. And the settlement in one place by large numbers of immigrants often is a factor in Americans moving and causing large-scale population growth in another place.
Keep in mind, though, that the problems we are looking at are not caused by immigrants but by the population growth that immigration policies have forced.
I recall talking to a 90-year-old man who had lived in Los Angeles all his life who nearly wept in explaining how much he still missed the fragrance of the orange groves that once had been a constant companion.
Heck, I miss the fact that when I moved to the Washington D.C. area in 1987 I could drive about 10 minutes and begin to wind through bucolic farmland. Now, I can drive for a half-hour (non-rush hour) and see little other than cookie-cutter condo developments, strip malls and treeless tract houses.
While Members of Congress fall all over themselves not only to continue to force 300 million more people into this country this century but actually increase the rate of growth, we really need to remind ourselves, our fellow citizens and our elected officials what can be lost in the process.
https://www.numbersusa.com/content/...ut-some-special-place-your-life-has-been-ruin
