People immigrate for a reason: American opportunity
Christopher Skeet
Issue date: 3/27/06 Section: Opinions
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The big issue for this month seems to be immigration. On Fri. March 10, over 100,000 people marched in Chicago against legislation that would crack down on illegal immigration. Some extremists have attempted to portray the immigration debate as one centered on race, but they're missing the bigger picture.
People vote with their feet. Per capita, the United States has one of the largest immigration rates in the world. In terms of raw numbers, more people immigrate to America than to anywhere else. The 100,000 protesters were demanding for themselves and for others to be able to stay. This is not proof of how bad America is. This is proof of how great America is.
America is not a race, a class, a skin color, a culture, or a religion. America is an idea. This idea states that its citizens, regardless of their origin, are free to chart their own destinies as individuals with equal rights and opportunities. The pursuit of happiness is not only an inalienable right institutionalized by our Founding Fathers, but also a very strong attraction for people in repressive or underdeveloped countries abroad. It's perfectly understandable why people instinctively flock here by the hundreds of thousands each year.
What isn't understandable are campus activists, Hollywood millionaires, and other self-described intellectuals who do nothing but trash talk this country and advocate the censorship of every political philosophy which doesn't conform to their own. Does America have its share of problems? Of course! Human beings in positions of governance, even elected positions, always have been and always will be susceptible to corruption. But the institution of America, though imperfect, is certainly not the source of all-encompassing human suffering as our fanatics would have us believe.
Because if this country sucked so much, why don't we see millions of people fleeing from America instead of towards it? Why are U.S. embassies the only ones in foreign cities whose waiting lines to the Visa Section extend out the door and around the block? Least of all, why do the bash-everything-American types bother hanging around? Reason would dictate they would've been the first ones to leave. Surely there are plenty of worker's paradises like Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam for these armchair guerrillas to flock to, right?
People vote with their feet. Per capita, the United States has one of the largest immigration rates in the world. In terms of raw numbers, more people immigrate to America than to anywhere else. The 100,000 protesters were demanding for themselves and for others to be able to stay. This is not proof of how bad America is. This is proof of how great America is.
America is not a race, a class, a skin color, a culture, or a religion. America is an idea. This idea states that its citizens, regardless of their origin, are free to chart their own destinies as individuals with equal rights and opportunities. The pursuit of happiness is not only an inalienable right institutionalized by our Founding Fathers, but also a very strong attraction for people in repressive or underdeveloped countries abroad. It's perfectly understandable why people instinctively flock here by the hundreds of thousands each year.
What isn't understandable are campus activists, Hollywood millionaires, and other self-described intellectuals who do nothing but trash talk this country and advocate the censorship of every political philosophy which doesn't conform to their own. Does America have its share of problems? Of course! Human beings in positions of governance, even elected positions, always have been and always will be susceptible to corruption. But the institution of America, though imperfect, is certainly not the source of all-encompassing human suffering as our fanatics would have us believe.
Because if this country sucked so much, why don't we see millions of people fleeing from America instead of towards it? Why are U.S. embassies the only ones in foreign cities whose waiting lines to the Visa Section extend out the door and around the block? Least of all, why do the bash-everything-American types bother hanging around? Reason would dictate they would've been the first ones to leave. Surely there are plenty of worker's paradises like Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam for these armchair guerrillas to flock to, right?