response

by phlavor

Posted to Poetry and Politics on 2003-04-30 00:47:00

Parent message is 438569
Economic policy is dictated more, in this country, by the market than by the government. We would know if it were controlled by the government, because we would end up with an unemployment rate like those in Western Europe.

Yes, I would agree with you that people around the world are becoming highly westernized. But I do not necessarily see that as a bad thing. What I mean by the distinction between US and local businesses has to do with the variety of choices that people in these other countries enjoy. We may think that American culture is being forced down there throats, but they now have this choice between their products and ours. That is not bad for local businesses. In fact, as US businesses come in, local businesses tend to benefit from the excess income that US companies put into the local economy.

So, cultures are not being lost, they are evolving as the world and the global community evolve. It is the natural order of things. I enjoy cultural evolution. It’s the only way that we get rid of things that aren’t good. Slavery, for example, or communism (wink, wink).

That aside, on the immigration issue: I say it is not that simple because it is the chief end of the US government to look out for the US populace. If this means allowing in the best and brightest of other cultures, then so be it. This is not a new thing. Columbus was Italian, working for the Spanish crown. Regardless of what one may think of his work, he was most definitely one of the best and brightest of his age. The same can be said of Einstein. If we had not allowed his arrival, the Nazis would have killed him and we would have lost an incredible mind.

I agree that all immigrants (well, most if not all) come to the US to seek out the opportunity that only this country provides. But I would not want to deny this to them. Regardless of how one feels about it, there are certain jobs that Americans just won’t do. An immigrant can come here and do that job, and make monumentally more than he would in his native country.

America was built on immigration. I did not mean that it is complicated for the immigrant; it is complicated for us.

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