The lives that many of our ancestors lived before they made the sometimes arduous trek to America were difficult for many reasons. Poverty of course, but religious persecution figured prominently, and the simple almost world-wide limitation on upward mobility was a huge driver of immigration. No matter our great-great-grandfather’s intelligence and drive and desire to better himself, he was stuck as a serf or a blacksmith or a tenant farmer, and it was very difficult to change those circumstances.
Thus the allure of America! But to get there was difficult and expensive, and there was no guarantee that when he arrived he wouldn’t be put right back on the ship and sent back to Russia or Germany or Sweden or Italy or…
And that was just the beginning! He had to work…hard, and learn English, and fit into the culture that was American Exceptionalism. There was no welfare or immigration assistance or government payments for new arrivals or public medical care or public housing or any of the myriad services that current immigrants are given.
So who came to America?
The smart ones. The tough ones. The ones who truly valued freedom and chafed under the Czar or the Kaiser or the King or the Emperor. The great mass of people who were miserable, but unwilling to challenge themselves with the great unknown of leaving what they had, no matter how pitiful, stayed, and were gobbled up by the cataclysms that shook Europe.
That selection turbocharged America, which was already the destination of the best and the brightest from its beginning.
But all of that changed with modern transportation, the burgeoning welfare state, and the radical change in our immigration policies that began in the 1960s. No longer did America want immigration to be a reflection of the country. No…the progressives wanted a flood of new voters who would support their cradle-to-grave welfare dreams.
And where to find those people? In countries without a foundation of personal freedom, the rule of law, and at least some sense of entrepreneurship and personal responsibility.
And that’s what we got! People who came here to be cared for by government, not to expand their lives and enjoy the fruits of liberty.
It’s as simple as that, and the progressive cant that claims the new immigrants (both legal and illegal) are functionally identical to the great immigrations of the 19th and into the early 20th century is arrant nonsense.
A peasant from central America or China without education or any political conviction other than a desire to be cared for is a radically different person than the 19th century immigrant from Germany or Russia who came to America with nothing, built a small business, sent his children to college, and created vast wealth for America.
And that filter of expense and difficulty and fear of the unknown has largely been removed, so there is no impediment to armies of societal leeches invading our country. Hell, there are American charities that teach illegals how to navigate the welfare systems for maximum payout, even before they get here!
How to fix it? President Trump has tightened restrictions on legal immigration, and has simply enforced the law on illegal immigration. It is an excellent start, but the societal modifications necessary to return America to the concept of the melting pot are still very much in flux.
Love of country, respect for individual responsibility, freedom as a powerful driver of political behavior…all need to return to the fore. And that begins with education, which has been completely hijacked by the rabid progressives of the educational establishment.
Yes, it is a tall order, but the indications are modestly positive!