What is the Future of America?

[questor]

America is changing rapidly. Our ethnic makeup is changing with the influx of foreigners flooding our country legally and illegally. Our cultural traditions are being changed, replaced, or destroyed by those who will not assimilate and are frequently enabled by those who believe this country in its current form should be torn down and rebuilt to be more multi-ethnic and multi-cultural.
It is now ''progresssive'' to attack corporations and the wealthy because it is not fair that one man should profit more than another. Our educational system
is in disarray, and we dare not say why. Politcal correctess forbids merit and constructive criticism. We have failed to educate our children to keep up with the developing countries and be able to compete in the new global economy.
Grandfather International Education Reform Report - by MWHodges
Are we now going to surrender our previous pre-eminence in technology, medicine, electronics, automobiles, and science? Will we quickly become a second rate country? If we continue to welcome all comers into our country without emphasizing taking in the best of the best, we will end up as the worst of the worst.
What is the reason for this? Is it the desire for too much immigration, with too many conflicting cultures? A culture of envy which calls for ever higher taxation to fund entitlements and even the playing field? Have we lost our admiration for education, ambition, merit and hard work? Are we proud of a government that is run as a petty fiefdom with minimal oversight and little fiscal responsibility?
What are the advantages of multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity? Are the incoming cultures superior to ours? Should we adopt the economic and cultural systems of those who flood our shores?

The percentage of original European settlers of this country will continue to
shrink and at some point will become increasingly irrelevant.
U.S. Population Could Reach 438 Million by 2050, and Immigration Is Key
by Carl Haub

''(February 2008) A new report from the Pew Research Center projects that immigration will propel the U.S. population total to 438 million by 2050, from 303 million today (see Figure 1). Along with this growth, the racial and ethnic profile of Americans will continue to shift—with non-Hispanic whites losing their majority status. (U.S. Population Projections: 2005-2050''
U.S. Population Could Reach 438 Million by 2050, and Immigration Is Key - Population Reference Bureau

Is this good for America? Is this the future you would pick for your grandchildren?

[Thunderbird]

Originally Posted by questor

Is this good for America? Is this the future you would pick for your grandchildren?

Yes, historically being a multicultural society is a strength not a weakness. This is nothing new. America has always had influxes of immigration. Keep in mind 500 years ago the country was 100% native Americans.

[Zythryn]

Originally Posted by questor

Our cultural traditions are being changed, replaced, or destroyed by those who will not assimilate...

Our cultural traditions are indeed changing, as they have done since the country was founded. I am curious why you draw a link between the cultural change and immigrants which 'will not assimilate'. (Please correct me if my paraphrase was innacurate and you meant something else by 'those who will not assimilate'.

Originally Posted by questor

It is now ''progresssive'' to attack corporations and the wealthy because it is not fair that one man should profit more than another.

I am curious where you got this? And who is holding the position that all men should 'profit' by the same amount? I have not heard of that position with regard to our society.

Originally Posted by questor

Our educational system is in disarray, and we dare not say why.

I agree with the sentiment of the first part, but am curious why you feel 'we dare not say why'? I've said so a number of times in threads on this very forum.

Originally Posted by questor

Politcal correctess forbids merit and constructive criticism.

Forbids who? In my last job I both received and gave quite a bit of constructive criticism. Both the receiving and giving were benificial in helping the recipient improve themselves. Just where is merit and constructive criticism forbidden?

Originally Posted by questor

We have failed to educate our children to keep up with the developing countries and be able to compete in the new global economy.
Grandfather International Education Reform Report - by MWHodges

I completely agree with this. It is a travesty and we should be working hard to increase our ratings and competitiveness in the world.

Originally Posted by questor

Are we now going to surrender our previous pre-eminence in technology, medicine, electronics, automobiles, and science? Will we quickly become a second rate country? If we continue to welcome all comers into our country without emphasizing taking in the best of the best, we will end up as the worst of the worst.

Again, I completely agree with the concern in the first part of your statement. I fail to see any connection to the second part. How does welcoming immigrants translate to failure of our national education in comparison to the world?

Originally Posted by questor

Have we lost our admiration for education, ambition, merit and hard work? Are we proud of a government that is run as a petty fiefdom with minimal oversight and little fiscal responsibility?

I hope not. But you seem to again link this to immigration. Why?

Originally Posted by questor

What are the advantages of multiculturalism and multi-ethnicity? Are the incoming cultures superior to ours?

I am a person that believes that a society gains strength from the addition of other viewpoints.
I also believe that while the other culture may not be superior to ours in all ways, that we can certainly learn from the good aspects. The Pope I am sure would commend the strong Catholic background of Latin Americans and would encourage the culture of the US to adopt that stronger Catholic tendancies.

Originally Posted by questor

Should we adopt the economic and cultural systems of those who flood our shores?

Sure, if they are better than ours. If they are not, then I would say we shouldn't.

[freeztar]

Questor and Zyth,

You both speak of "our culture". Do you mean "American culture"?

If so, I find it highly amusing when people talk about "American Culture". America is a stew of various cultures. What exactly is specifically American? Hot dogs? Baseball? Violent movies?

In this day and age, we're inundated with Mexican restaurants, Yoga studios, Buddhist temples, sushi restaurants, etc.

America doesn't have any culture except what has been brought here from other cultures. Of course, I'm not talking about Native America, that's a whole other sad story.

Why do I feel like I'm gonna catch a lot of flac for this?

[questor]

Which societies have improved by allowing immigration of people who are less
well educated or job trained than the original inhabitants? Which of our current immigrants should we copy insofar as culture and economic system?
What are the advantages of the immigration system we have now?

[Zythryn]

Freeztar, no flak from this direction.
You raise two excellent points. First, yes, I was speaking of the culture in the United States of America. My apologies to people from other parts of the world for bypassing that clarification.
Second, I believe America (USA specifically) does indeed have its own culture.
I also believe that culture is a result of many other cultures and their interactions. I do agree though that the resulting culture was heavily influenced by the immigrants throughout the history of the US and continues to change just as it has throughout its history.

[questor]

America 50+ years ago did indeed have a recognizable culture. It has only changed lately by the actions of the ACLU, political correctness, anti religion, and non-judgementalism factions.
For those of you that think America has/had no native culture, which of the incoming cultures would you best like to emulate?

[Zythryn]

Questor, you asked a whole slew of questions in your first post. I took some time to respond to most of them.
I would appreciate it if you would continue the discussion you started.
Do you agree, do you disagree? Could you explain the statements you made which didn't seem linked?

That being said:

Which societies have improved by allowing immigration of people who are less
well educated or job trained than the original inhabitants?

Many I would say that the United States society improved immensly by taking in many Norwegian and Irish. The hard work ethic of the Norwegians helped Minnesota immensly. And I feel the society is much 'richer' for the addition of a variety of people with different backgrounds.
Just as a side question, why the qualifier about education? Many immigrants are not well educated, that is true. But as you linked to and described in your own post, much of the world is better educated than us

Which of our current immigrants should we copy insofar as culture and economic system?

I'd say the Latvians, or many of the eastern European immigrants from countries with the flat tax.
As for culture, I like the importance many Latinos place on family and I think that is something our culture could benifit from.

What are the advantages of the immigration system we have now?

I have noted a number of them above. However, that is more about immigration in general. The system we have now, I feel, is dreadfully broken and needs much repair.
I think we need a national ID card (topic for another thread if you like) for all citizens (immigrants and otherwise). I also believe we need to allow many more legal immigrants and we need to secure our borders.
Likewise, we need to punish businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants (also a topic for a seperate thread?).

[Thunderbird]

Originally Posted by questor

America 50+ years ago did indeed have a recognizable culture. It has only changed lately by the actions of the ACLU, political correctness, anti religion, and non-judgementalism factions.
For those of you that think America has/had no native culture, which of the incoming cultures would you best like to emulate?

I recently attended a two festivals. One was our local county fair which could be summed up culturally by the picture below.


The other was held Saturday in Tower grove park in St Louis. It was the “festival of Nations” celebrating the diversity of the city with music, dance, food. I wish to god we had more of that where I live.



....and a little less of this.

[questor]

Thunderbird, are these your neighbors? Thanks for a good laugh. Are you saying you want more immigrants so you can eat ethnic food and dance to some good salsa music?