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Why Americans Hate This Immigration Debate [These Are Not Immigrants Willing To Assimilate]
American Thinker ^ | April 3, 2006 | Herbert E. Meyer
Posted on 04/03/2006 6:27:37 AM PDT by conservativecorner
One of the most striking features of the immigration debate now raging in Washington is that none of the Democratic or Republican proposals seem to hold any appeal for ordinary Americanswhich is why this debate is generating so much frustration among voters that no matter which proposal Congress adopts, the issue itself threatens to shatter both parties bases and dominate the November elections.
Simply put, the debate in Washington isnt about immigration at all and thats the problem.
To ordinary Americans, the definition of immigration is very specific: You come here with absolutely nothing except a burning desire to be an American. You start off at some miserable, low-paying job that at least puts a roof over your familys head and food on the table. You put your kids in school, tell them how lucky they are to be here and make darn sure they do well even if that means hiring a tutor and taking a second, or third, job to pay for it. You learn English, even if youve got to take classes at night when youre dead tired. You play by the ruleswhich means you pay your taxes, get a drivers license and insure your car so that if yours hits mine, I can recover the cost of the damages. And you file for citizenship the first day youre eligible.
Do all this and you become an American like all the rest of us. Your kids will lose their accents, move into the mainstream, and retain little of their heritage except a few words of your language and if youre luckyan irresistible urge to visit you now and then for some of moms old-country cooking.
This is how the Italians made it, the Germans made it, the Dutch made it, the Poles made it, the Jews made it, and more recently how the Cubans and the Vietnamese made it. The process isnt easy but it works and thats the way ordinary Americans want to keep it.
The Two Hispanic Groups
But the millions of Hispanics who have come to our country in the last several decades and its the Hispanics were talking about in this debate, not those from other culturesare, in fact, two distinct groups. The first group is comprised of immigrants just like all the others, who have put the old country behind them and want only to be Americans. They arent the problem. Indeed, most Americans welcome them among us, as we have welcomed so many other cultures.
The problem is the second group of Hispanics. They arent immigrants which is what neither the Democratic or Republican leadership seems to understand, or wants to acknowledge. They have come here solely for jobs, which isnt the same thing at all. (And many of them have come here illegally.) Whether they remain in the U.S. for one year, or ten years or for the rest of their lives they dont conduct themselves like immigrants. Yes, they work hard to put roofs above their heads and food on their tables and for this we respect them. But they have little interest in learning English themselves, and instead demand that we make it possible for them to function here in Spanish. They put their children in our schools, but dont always demand as much from them as previous groups demanded of their kids. They dont always pay their taxes or insure their cars.
In short, they arent playing by the rules that our families played by when they immigrated to this country. And to ordinary Americans this behavior is deeply very deeply offensive. We see it unfolding every day in our communities, and we dont like it. This is what none of our politicians either understands, or dares to say aloud. Instead, they blather on and on about amnesty and border security without ever coming to grips with what is so visible, and so offensive, to so many of us namely, all these foreigners among us who arent behaving like immigrants.
The phrase we use to describe foreigners who come here not as immigrants but merely for jobs is guest workers. And we are told incessantly that we need these guest workers because they take jobs that Americans dont want and wont take themselves. This is true, but its also disingenuous. Throughout our countrys history, immigrants have always taken jobs that Americans dont want and wont take themselves. For crying out loud, no foreigner has ever come to our country out of a blazing ambition to dig ditches, mow lawns, bag groceries, sew clothing or clean other peoples houses. If we hadnt always had a huge number of these miserable jobs available that none of us would do there wouldnt have been a way for immigrants throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to step off the boat and find work.
A willingness by immigrants to start at the bottom so they can move up the economic ladder or at least give their kids a shot at the higher rungs is precisely how the system is supposed to work. And it always has. (My own family is one of the tens of millions that did precisely this. My grandfather came from Poland and found work as a pocket-maker in New Yorks garment district. The pay was low, the hours were long, and when the old man finally retired he could hardly move his fingers or see without thick glasses. Yet one of his sons, my uncle, became a lawyer with a fancy practice on Manhattans Upper East Side. His kids did even better; his son wound up chairman of Stanford Universitys history department, and his daughter became a famous art critic, moved to London, and married an Englishman who became a member of the House of Lords. What is astonishing about this story is that it isnt astonishing. Its the sort of thing that happens all the time, and its why ordinary Americans dont want to change the system that made it possible.)
Blame the Birth Rate
One fact that hasnt been part of the immigration debate is this: During the past two decades our national birth rate has dropped to just below the 2.1 births-per-woman replacement rate. So we really do need to import people because to put it bluntly we havent bred enough of them ourselves to do all the work that needs to be done in an affluent, ageing society like ours. But then, weve always needed more people to do the work we want done. And weve always brought them in from elsewhere as immigrants.
Yet today we have millions of foreigners among us who have come here to work, but not to immigrate. Our politicians tell us that we must accept this because for the first time in our historyweve reached that point when we need guest workers who arent immigrants to keep our economy growing. If this is trueand isnt it odd that no one has troubled to explain why its true then we must find some way to distinguish between immigrants and guest workers so that they arent treated the same just because they both are here. And if it isnt true that our continued economic growth requires guest workers who arent immigrantsthen the entire concept of guest workers that lies at the core of virtually every proposal now before Congress, including amnesty for those who are here illegally, must be abandoned in favor of something that makes sense.
Until our elected officials come to grips with the real issue thats troubling ordinary Americans not a growing population of foreigners among us, but rather a growing population of foreigners among us who arent behaving like immigrants public frustration will grow no matter what bill Congress passes in the coming weeks. It could lead to the kind of political explosion that none of us really wants.
Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIAs National Intelligence Council. His DVD on The Siege of Western Civilization has become an international best-seller.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1608221/posts
American Thinker ^ | April 3, 2006 | Herbert E. Meyer
Posted on 04/03/2006 6:27:37 AM PDT by conservativecorner
One of the most striking features of the immigration debate now raging in Washington is that none of the Democratic or Republican proposals seem to hold any appeal for ordinary Americanswhich is why this debate is generating so much frustration among voters that no matter which proposal Congress adopts, the issue itself threatens to shatter both parties bases and dominate the November elections.
Simply put, the debate in Washington isnt about immigration at all and thats the problem.
To ordinary Americans, the definition of immigration is very specific: You come here with absolutely nothing except a burning desire to be an American. You start off at some miserable, low-paying job that at least puts a roof over your familys head and food on the table. You put your kids in school, tell them how lucky they are to be here and make darn sure they do well even if that means hiring a tutor and taking a second, or third, job to pay for it. You learn English, even if youve got to take classes at night when youre dead tired. You play by the ruleswhich means you pay your taxes, get a drivers license and insure your car so that if yours hits mine, I can recover the cost of the damages. And you file for citizenship the first day youre eligible.
Do all this and you become an American like all the rest of us. Your kids will lose their accents, move into the mainstream, and retain little of their heritage except a few words of your language and if youre luckyan irresistible urge to visit you now and then for some of moms old-country cooking.
This is how the Italians made it, the Germans made it, the Dutch made it, the Poles made it, the Jews made it, and more recently how the Cubans and the Vietnamese made it. The process isnt easy but it works and thats the way ordinary Americans want to keep it.
The Two Hispanic Groups
But the millions of Hispanics who have come to our country in the last several decades and its the Hispanics were talking about in this debate, not those from other culturesare, in fact, two distinct groups. The first group is comprised of immigrants just like all the others, who have put the old country behind them and want only to be Americans. They arent the problem. Indeed, most Americans welcome them among us, as we have welcomed so many other cultures.
The problem is the second group of Hispanics. They arent immigrants which is what neither the Democratic or Republican leadership seems to understand, or wants to acknowledge. They have come here solely for jobs, which isnt the same thing at all. (And many of them have come here illegally.) Whether they remain in the U.S. for one year, or ten years or for the rest of their lives they dont conduct themselves like immigrants. Yes, they work hard to put roofs above their heads and food on their tables and for this we respect them. But they have little interest in learning English themselves, and instead demand that we make it possible for them to function here in Spanish. They put their children in our schools, but dont always demand as much from them as previous groups demanded of their kids. They dont always pay their taxes or insure their cars.
In short, they arent playing by the rules that our families played by when they immigrated to this country. And to ordinary Americans this behavior is deeply very deeply offensive. We see it unfolding every day in our communities, and we dont like it. This is what none of our politicians either understands, or dares to say aloud. Instead, they blather on and on about amnesty and border security without ever coming to grips with what is so visible, and so offensive, to so many of us namely, all these foreigners among us who arent behaving like immigrants.
The phrase we use to describe foreigners who come here not as immigrants but merely for jobs is guest workers. And we are told incessantly that we need these guest workers because they take jobs that Americans dont want and wont take themselves. This is true, but its also disingenuous. Throughout our countrys history, immigrants have always taken jobs that Americans dont want and wont take themselves. For crying out loud, no foreigner has ever come to our country out of a blazing ambition to dig ditches, mow lawns, bag groceries, sew clothing or clean other peoples houses. If we hadnt always had a huge number of these miserable jobs available that none of us would do there wouldnt have been a way for immigrants throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to step off the boat and find work.
A willingness by immigrants to start at the bottom so they can move up the economic ladder or at least give their kids a shot at the higher rungs is precisely how the system is supposed to work. And it always has. (My own family is one of the tens of millions that did precisely this. My grandfather came from Poland and found work as a pocket-maker in New Yorks garment district. The pay was low, the hours were long, and when the old man finally retired he could hardly move his fingers or see without thick glasses. Yet one of his sons, my uncle, became a lawyer with a fancy practice on Manhattans Upper East Side. His kids did even better; his son wound up chairman of Stanford Universitys history department, and his daughter became a famous art critic, moved to London, and married an Englishman who became a member of the House of Lords. What is astonishing about this story is that it isnt astonishing. Its the sort of thing that happens all the time, and its why ordinary Americans dont want to change the system that made it possible.)
Blame the Birth Rate
One fact that hasnt been part of the immigration debate is this: During the past two decades our national birth rate has dropped to just below the 2.1 births-per-woman replacement rate. So we really do need to import people because to put it bluntly we havent bred enough of them ourselves to do all the work that needs to be done in an affluent, ageing society like ours. But then, weve always needed more people to do the work we want done. And weve always brought them in from elsewhere as immigrants.
Yet today we have millions of foreigners among us who have come here to work, but not to immigrate. Our politicians tell us that we must accept this because for the first time in our historyweve reached that point when we need guest workers who arent immigrants to keep our economy growing. If this is trueand isnt it odd that no one has troubled to explain why its true then we must find some way to distinguish between immigrants and guest workers so that they arent treated the same just because they both are here. And if it isnt true that our continued economic growth requires guest workers who arent immigrantsthen the entire concept of guest workers that lies at the core of virtually every proposal now before Congress, including amnesty for those who are here illegally, must be abandoned in favor of something that makes sense.
Until our elected officials come to grips with the real issue thats troubling ordinary Americans not a growing population of foreigners among us, but rather a growing population of foreigners among us who arent behaving like immigrants public frustration will grow no matter what bill Congress passes in the coming weeks. It could lead to the kind of political explosion that none of us really wants.
Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIAs National Intelligence Council. His DVD on The Siege of Western Civilization has become an international best-seller.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1608221/posts