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How proud are you to be an American?
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Anonymous
So glad to hear this. |
Anonymous
WHOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Anonymous
| I'm no longer proud and no longer loce my country. I used to be but I can't stand the divisiveness. I used to be a moderate but no longer. I don't know how anyone could be anymore. Both my husband and I have moved left. We grew up in the Reagan era and my husband was Republican and I have gone back and forth and have voted for both parties. That seems like a dream now. I will only vote for Democrats now because I fear for my freedom under what has become a truly crazy party, and i fear thers will be no separation of church (ie, extreme Evangelical Christianity). It all may change someday, but that's how it is now and that's how I feel now. |
Anonymous
Half the world still does. And don’t be too quick to think that can’t happen anywhere. Right wing fanatic brutal dictator and crook Netanyahu has been naming self described homophobes in high positions. These men are very open about their extreme religious beliefs similar to Muslims and their racist hate. if enough of them are appointed to high government leadership roles Israel could easily be right in step with the more extreme Muslim countries. |
Anonymous
| Never been proud-- mostly ambivalent, distrustful, and never quite forgiving of what was done to my ancestors. |
Anonymous
Another super well thought out contribution. Well done. We are all convinced of your well articulated points now. |
Anonymous
Okay, putting aside the question of legal/illegal and just looking at x number of people appearing somewhere, you have a point that human capital is a valuable resource, especially as some population projections predict a decline. But: Do we have the resources to support them? Food prices have soared recently. Does this indicate shortages, an imbalance somewhere in the process that can be worked out, or gouging? If it’s gouging, are we going to be able to financially support a large immigrant influx long enough for them to be self supporting? If it’s due to shortages, prices will almost certainly rise further. We’ve already seen shortages on formula, are we willing to accept more widespread and frequent shortages? What about water? California and most of the southwest is already facing water shortages. Are we going to have enough water if we drastically increase our population? Are we going to have enough water for increased food production? Even if we can support the increased population under current conditions, will we be able to under the strain of global warming? They’ll need places to live. While they may eventually help build and refurbish countless residences (including their own townhouses - on what land?), they’ll be competing more immediately for affordable housing, a resource that is already in short supply. Are we going to house them at public expense despite the fact that we have citizens who are homeless? Are we willing to swell the ranks of the homeless until they can eventually obtain housing on their own? This not only seems unnecessarily cruel and heartless, but it would also seem to foster the conditions for both crime and disease. Human capital is great. It has the potential to eventually help meet our shortfall of workers in many professions. However, it also increases the demand for workers in many professions and the resources to support them. Immigrants might eventually offset shortages of doctors, teachers, etc. That will likely take years. In the meantime the immigrants will need doctors and teachers themselves, along with hospitals, schools, and translators. ESL classes everywhere would be great, but who’s going to teach them? We don’t have enough ESL teachers as it is. Where are these classes going to be held? Who is providing supplies and curriculum? When are the immigrants going to attend? Do you think they’ll have a lot of spare time after a full shift at the kind of minimum wage job they can get without English, work on building a townhouse, and take care of their family in a homeless encampment? I would love for us to welcome more immigrants. I am grateful my ancestors had the chance to immigrate and believe the words on the Statue of Liberty. I think of it as both a promise of America to the people of the world and to America itself. I think our history of welcoming immigrants has been one of our greatest strengths. However, I think there is some limit both to the overall population we can support and the rate at which we can integrate newcomers. I don’t know what those numbers are. I think we can support a larger population, but that upper limit may shrink (possibly substantially) with climate change. I don’t know how quickly we can accept them and effectively integrate them either. I do think that experts should be able to put their heads together and come up with some reasonable estimates. We should use those to strategize how to legally facilitate the immigration of as many immigrants as we can under those guidelines, make an honest decision about who we’re going to prioritize (because whatever numbers we’re working with won’t be a drop in the bucket compared to the demand) and figure out how to effectively close our borders to those we can’t accommodate (no matter how much we might want to). |
Anonymous
I’m sure they started in a city too. |