Coming to America to Start Again, Part I

There is much ado on the right about how government regulations and taxes are going to totally screw up anyone's ability to achieve the Great American Dream. There is much ado on the left regarding how unbridled capitalism has run amuck with little or no oversight from the government and monied interests have benefited at everyone else's expense. As my mother used to say, "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer."

Frankly, I have to think that this country needs a bit more regulation of business. Unbridled profit motive does tend to yield some really ugly results. On the other hand, not everyone is getting totally screwed by the wealthy elite. Let's face it. It is still possible to start with nothing and end up with a lot in America. The American Dream lives.

Just ask any immigrant. Doesn't matter where from, Latin America, Africa, Asia, Australia, Oceania, or Europe. People come to America because it's still possible to succeed if you work hard and prove your capability. Why do you think we have so damned many people trying desperately to get within our borders? Not all of them are Islamic terrorists looking to blow up the infidels. Most are looking to make a decent life for themselves, including a large number of Muslims from the Middle East.

Much has been said in America about the illegal immigrants from Mexico. Frankly a lot of the Latino illegals are not from Mexico but from Central and South America as well. Why do you think they come? Because it is possible to work hard and get a nice house, an education for your kids, and a big American car and a 50" TV to boot. Can you fault them?

For that matter, a lot of Americans are missing the fact that there are illegal immigrants from all over the globe entering this country all the time. They just seem to focus on those from Latin America. Living in Chicago I've noticed an awful lot of illegals from Ireland working in construction, working in bars and restaurants. Nobody seems to make a big stink about these guys. They're white, European, and speak English. I've noticed a lot of women from Poland cleaning people's houses. Nobody seems to care if their cleaning lady may not really have a green card.

There are Chinese immigrants who pay outrageous sums to get here whether they have a legal visa or not. Many of them are abused, ripped off, and entered into a state that nears slavery. Most Americans become outraged at how they are taken advantage of, not that they are in the country illegally. How does this compare to the fate of Guatemalan immigrants who come into the U.S. via the coyote smugglers? Same shit. Different ethnicity. Yet Americans are all too quick to condemn these immigrants. They are Spanish speaking brown people and there is a prejudice there that goes back a long way.

The point here is that unless you belong to one of the Native American tribes you are an immigrant too. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Sioux, Pawnee, Apache, Ojibwa, Hopi, Navajo etc., etc., etc. all feel that we are all a bunch of uninvited illegals. Same shit. Different ethnicities. At some point all of our families came here to start again, to make a new life. It has, historically, always been possible to raise your status in life in America if you were willing to put your nose to the grindstone. It still is.

We are a nation of immigrants and refugees. We live in a nation with an abundance of resources, natural and human. There is creativity in the air. If you want the country to stay the same as it always has, please step aside. It is a living, breathing, growing, changing entity. Try to stop its growth and progress and it will swallow you up. Hold it back by force and other parts of the world will pass you by. What America has always had to offer is its endless possibilities. Embrace that.