I got an email with a famous quote from T. Roosevelt, that I partly agree with though I think today's situation is very different, and this was my response:


OK, but define “American” then. The characteristics of what makes an “average” American are so varied that there really is no such thing as an “average” American. How much do you abandon where you came from, your origins? What “assimilation” means to one person might be different to another person. Genocides have been committed in the name of “assimilation”, including in this country. People have been racist throughout America’s history, causing problems for others because the others weren’t from England or Germany or Sweden or wherever, so perhaps people who are racist are not being true Americans because they seem to be holding onto some connection with a place other than the USA (like Roosevelt himself said).

The official language of the USA is not English. We have no official language. Nope. Everything is in English because that’s what most people speak, so it makes sense that if you come here you should learn English, and if you don’t and you expect to prosper, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. You have to “demonstrate ability in English” in order to become a citizen. You miss out on a lot if you don’t speak the language of the country you move to. Still, we have no single “official” language, and I don’t believe that we need to have one. We do have almost 200 languages that are native to the country, and between 300-400 that are actually spoken here. Some states are officially bilingual (with Spanish for NM, French for LA, Hawaiian for HI, and native languages for Indian reservations and the Pacific islands) – state language policies usually just say that government stuff must be made available at least in the state’s official languages, and do not discriminate against other languages. We have no official language because the original settlers did not universally speak English, there was Dutch, French, German, Swedish, Welsh, Gaelic, Spanish, Russian, etc . . . and the founding fathers did not want to discriminate.

Now, I’ve seen a lot of reaction against all the illegal Latinos coming here, but I’ve seen very little railing against the employers who hire illegal immigrants. THOSE people are the ones driving down wages, lowering working conditions, forcing workers to work in conditions that most Americans would simply not put up with, especially not for those wages! Seriously, how many of us have spent a summer picking strawberries, or slicing up chickens at a crowded and unsanitary meat-packing plant? Something to think about the next time you’re in the produce aisle or at the meat counter. Illegal Latinos are helping farms, meat companies, restaurants, and janitorial companies save billion$ of dollars every year! Illegal Chinese in sweatshops help “made-in-USA” clothing companies save money too! Employers don’t have to worry about unions, OSHA regulations, worker health, or any of those other pesky HR hassles and expenses when they hire illegals, and they can keep providing the products and services we need at the prices we demand. Whether we like it or not, knew about it or not, our nation’s economy and consumer mindset and work ethic and lax law enforcement and complicity to this situation has been driving the growth of an underground cheap and “illegal” labor pool: a practice that is immoral and unsustainable and detrimental to our society, yet we can’t seem to function without. They’re coming here in droves because we’re hiring them in droves. They’re here because we need them.

A drain on our schools? I don’t know about your state, but in California the biggest drain on our school system has been ignorant politicians, not Mexican laborers’ children. A drain on our hospitals? Again, the biggest drain on public health services that I’ve seen is ignorant politicians who would sooner kick mentally ill war veterans out onto the street than provide minimal placement and services*, so I suppose if we can’t afford to care for the people who sacrificed to protect our nation, then we probably can’t afford to help some poor Salvadorian who got fired because he hurt his back picking strawberries.

Should being in the USA illegally be a felony? How about making it a felony to knowingly hire illegal immigrants? How about throwing employers in jail, or taking away business licenses, or banning them from being employers in the future? How about making their fines $IGNIFICANT, not just corporate pocket change? Is our next guest worker program going to make sure that employers don’t take advantage of the guest workers, to make sure they actually get paid ALL of the money they earned?

Now, I’m not saying illegal aliens themselves aren’t causing any problems because some of them certainly are, (big problems that I know you’ll easily list in your response to this email), but I’m seeing a tendency to scapegoat a group of people for other societal and economic problems that aren’t even within their sphere of influence.

The problem isn’t just “them”, it’s “us” too.


* www.nchv.org/background.cfm



and here's the email I was responding to:

SOMETIMES VERY WISE MEN SAY THINGS THAT ARE WISE AND PERTINENT FOR ALL TIMES. THESE ARE WORDS THAT ARE NOT UNLIKE THE WORDS IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, TIMELESS AND PROFOUND BEYOND DESCRIPTION, YET EASILY DISREGARDED BY FOOLS, CHARLATANS AND THE HISTORICALLY AND INTELLECTUALLY CHALLENGED.

Something to think about.....

Teddy had it so right! Not Kennedy, but Roosevelt!

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907:

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907