Aizle wrote:
Actually, people have been reacting the way they always do. We got a **** ton of Irish immigrants during the potatoe famine too.
The issue today is that the immigration process is so much more convoluted and time consuming/restrictive than it used to be, so that people who even would be an asset to the US aren't being allowed in. In my opinion that is not smart.
And that was an issue of Ireland/England shoving their problems on us; the difference was we needed the people at the time. IT is not excessively convoluted, time consuming, or restrictive now, compared to our need for more people. There really isn't anyone we need that can't also go through the process.
Diamondeye wrote:
Quote:
Furthermore, this country was not founded on any "principle" of hardworking people trying to improve their life. People worked hard in those days because unless you were rich you had to; survival demanded it since no tasks were automated.
Really? Apparently I dreamed that whole "Land of Opportunity" line.
Yes, you dreamed it if you thought it was some sort of "principle". The only principle involved was that you could work hard here and prosper, as opposed to just survive while the King took all your surplus. It was never a principle of "We can accept as many people as want to come indefinitely". All you're doing is appealing to tradition.
Diamondeye wrote:
I don't see how immigrants who do work that needs to be done, that American citizens don't appear to be interested in doing is a drain. And that's just the stereo typical migrant labor example.
Because the reason Americans aren't willign to do it is the availability of illegals, who A) take the jobs for under minimum wage and B) create a labor surplus. If there weren't hoards of illegals, Americans sure as **** would do those jobs because the bosses would be forced to pay enough to get workers.
Diamondeye wrote:
Certainly we don't have an obligation to do anything. Nor am I trying to claim that we do. It is, however, interesting how we've changed and the poem on the Statue of Liberty is no longer a reflection of our countries ideals as it once was. Maybe it's the closet conservative in me, but I find that unfortunate and misguided.
Ok, so our ideals have changed. Ideally we'd have unlimited ability to accept more people, but I doubt practical matters were in the mind of the poet when he wrote it. It's inscribed there to reflect things as they were at the time, and the way we'd ideally like things to be. They aren't going to be that way again any time soon though, because the world is irrevocably changed.
How exactly that's unfortunate and misguided is beyond me. Maybe it has something to do with imaginary ways in which if we only just followed those ideals everything would magically workout.