1st May 2006, 8:02 PM
Annexation... :)
Wouldn't solve the problem. Rich nations annexing poor ones isn't always a great idea... the standard example is when West Germany merged with East Germany. The Eastern part is STILL vastly disadvantaged in comparison, and a lot of people moved from there to the West... this is why South Korea doesn't want to just assimilate North Korea right now, even if they could...
It's certainly not easy, but as I said, it's the only thing that would work...
Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what should be done... on the one hand, we can't kick them out, but on the other hand, make some policy that makes it too easy for illegal immigrants to become citizens and we get flooded even more with them... yet they're only doing it because life here is so much better than at home. So it seems that a combonation of aid or something to improve conditions in Mexico and maybe also Central America (though Mexico is the key) and something that allows foreign workers to be here legally (guest worker program? A path to legality that involves paying back taxes, being considered after legal applicants, etc? I don't know)...
Really, this debate is a very interesting one. In many other first world nations we would not have this debate. There would be a debate, yes, but it'd be about if we should have any immigration at all -- not legal vs. illegal, but the relative qualities of maintaining racial purity versus increasing a static or declining population that needs workers... and in a lot of countries (most Western European nations, Japan, South Korea, etc), they've decided that in favor of the racial/national purity argument, whether or not that means that their population will drop because of low birthrates. But in America it's different, and we believe that immigration is good... but as usual, the latest immigrant group is disliked (Irish in the late 1800s, etc). That'll change with time...
As for language, just remember this: Do you know why America has no national language? It's because of the Pennsylvania Germans, who in the late 1700s spoke German and not English and did not want to be forced to speak English. Over time they learned it, however, and became American while retaining some elements of their heritage. There is no reason why not to expect why Hispanics won't follow that same path. Well, there is one stumbling block, which is how many of them are illegal and thus cannot interact with normal American society like normal immigrants should, but illegal immigration is something we have to get a handle on, so eventually that should change... you can never get rid of all of it, but I'm sure we'll do something to help with the problem, with how big of an issue it is right now.
Wouldn't solve the problem. Rich nations annexing poor ones isn't always a great idea... the standard example is when West Germany merged with East Germany. The Eastern part is STILL vastly disadvantaged in comparison, and a lot of people moved from there to the West... this is why South Korea doesn't want to just assimilate North Korea right now, even if they could...
Quote:Well, good luck with that.
It's certainly not easy, but as I said, it's the only thing that would work...
Quote:Regardless, I do think we should do something, and I think we should give the illegal immigrants the opportunity to earn their citizenship the way normal immigrants do. If they don't want to do that then we can kick them out. It really is impossible to kick millions of people out of the country so we need to have some other way to fix this problem.
Yeah, I'm not sure exactly what should be done... on the one hand, we can't kick them out, but on the other hand, make some policy that makes it too easy for illegal immigrants to become citizens and we get flooded even more with them... yet they're only doing it because life here is so much better than at home. So it seems that a combonation of aid or something to improve conditions in Mexico and maybe also Central America (though Mexico is the key) and something that allows foreign workers to be here legally (guest worker program? A path to legality that involves paying back taxes, being considered after legal applicants, etc? I don't know)...
Really, this debate is a very interesting one. In many other first world nations we would not have this debate. There would be a debate, yes, but it'd be about if we should have any immigration at all -- not legal vs. illegal, but the relative qualities of maintaining racial purity versus increasing a static or declining population that needs workers... and in a lot of countries (most Western European nations, Japan, South Korea, etc), they've decided that in favor of the racial/national purity argument, whether or not that means that their population will drop because of low birthrates. But in America it's different, and we believe that immigration is good... but as usual, the latest immigrant group is disliked (Irish in the late 1800s, etc). That'll change with time...
As for language, just remember this: Do you know why America has no national language? It's because of the Pennsylvania Germans, who in the late 1700s spoke German and not English and did not want to be forced to speak English. Over time they learned it, however, and became American while retaining some elements of their heritage. There is no reason why not to expect why Hispanics won't follow that same path. Well, there is one stumbling block, which is how many of them are illegal and thus cannot interact with normal American society like normal immigrants should, but illegal immigration is something we have to get a handle on, so eventually that should change... you can never get rid of all of it, but I'm sure we'll do something to help with the problem, with how big of an issue it is right now.
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