Centerfield

You're right, being an American is of a larger scale than those 3 items.

Meanwhile, the Dutch do get some things right...

It seems many on the Left would look favorably on GC's characterization of pre-60s Dutchification. And, the harder the Right tries to define "american-ness", the more some on the Left will counter with Dutchification. GC points out the problem, too: hippie individualism that undermines any cohesive authority.

So, can and should the Center define the standard?

The United States has a muscular tradition of assimilating immigrants through Americanization.

I don't understand what that sentence is supposed to mean. What is Americanization supposed to mean besides "the type of assimilation that tends to occur in America?" This sounds like we have schools and manuals and training programs and drill sargeants.

My sense is that what we have is just an evolving tradition. America's culture, relatively unique among nations, was dominantly built by waves of immigrants, since the various waves of immigrants swamped the existing culture of native americans.

European nations, by contrast each have an older more established culture. In other words, America experienced many waves of immigration during a period when we were fitfully establishing what our culture was going to be. During that time frame for us, Europeans had already fought more of the battles of this nature previously .

The future for America's culture may see it becoming more rigid over time if we don't think it's worthwhile to constantly re-invent what our culture is supposed to be in the context of the present day. Our past has shown us to be stretchy, but is past stretchiness any guarantee of future stretchiness? Or do cultures lose their elasticity as time passes, just like real-world rubber bands?

Americanization is a modest level of conformity for all who want to become citizens in the absence the dominance of any old-world nationality.

Technically there is no such entity as an American nation. At least not in the ethnic sense. So in order to keep this country from flying apart in 10 different directions we try to find a common denominator that a minimum core in this country can rally around to define itself as American. Unfortunately, we have elements in this country that respond to being undervalued by accentuating their differences.

It's because of this 2nd attitude that we keep tearing away at the minimum foundation of the 1st.

All that you're left with is, "I'm a person. He's a person. Wouldn't you like to be a person, too?" I.e. nothing.

We used to have a party that stood for this 1st attitude, but since the end of WWII that has not been the case.

Are we sure we're dealing with the reality of immigration and not an idealized vision of "the immigrant"?

I know a lot of immigrants, both legal and illegal, and they tend to fall into three camps:

1) Here for a job but don't want to become an American. These folks prize their home nations and really don't want more from America than a chance to earn more money than they could elsewhere. Many look askance at American culture. Many plan to return home. Many would prefer to return home but cannot due to civil unrest(e.g.Iranians, Salvadorans) or other factors that they can hope will abate if not in their lifetimes, in the lifetimes of their children so that their children can return "home."

2) Here for an education but plan to return home.

3) Have consciously chosen to begin a new life and destiny here, including becoming an American either through citizenship or assimilation.

Prior to the travel options which became more available not much more than 50 years ago, anyone who came here usually intended to remain and not see their homeland again. The crossing was too expensive to repeat, and visits were out of the question. Sending money home was risky. Therefore, category (3) was the general de facto experience of the immigrant.

Today is very different. Travel is much cheaper, and "going home" is an option within the reach of most immigrants' means. Therefore, the immigrant does not have to renouce former ties and focus on succeeding in their new country. They can send money home and build a nest egg for their future there, not here. Their future does not hinge on their "Americanization."

I know we'd all love to think that anyone who comes here wants to stay here and be a part of this crazy quilt that is America. In the past, they did, either through choice or circumstance. But today, many don't. They have no wish to become Americans, and they'd much rather stay in their "pillar" and have us stay in ours.

To make sound decisions, we need to look at the situation as it is, not as we'd like it to be. Thinking that everyone who is here wants to be an American is a conceit we cannot afford.

Serfer that is a very valid point. However, there are a large number of people who still fall into category #3.... more then we can comfortably accomadate giving immediate entry. In fact, I think we have a fairly large backlog of people seeking legal admitance for that purpose.

My question becomes given that we have such a large surplus of people who still want to come here to become "Americans", why should we be willing to cater at all to people who want to come here just so they can make a buck and then go "home"?

I mean, I'd like to make more money too...but I don't think the nation is somehow obligated to make some sort of special provision for me to do so.... and I WAS born here.

My attitude is that if person is not here to become an "American"..... then they shouldn't have been allowed entry in the first place. We don't exist to solve thier personal financial problems. They want to make more money.....welcome to the club.... find some way to do it in thier "home" nation.... we are a soveriegn nation, not a job placement agency.

Cengel

Those are exactly the questions we need to be discussing with regards to immigration reform. But, folks on the left and the right would rather get all wrapped up in the racial aspects of this issue. That's one of the main reasons why we should not couple border control issues with guest worker questions. They are completely separate topics.

Your statement "if person is not here to become an "American"..... then they shouldn't have been allowed entry in the first place" cuts to the real core issue that people are ignoring: How can a nation predicated upon democratic principles, the will and service of the people, etc., function when a significant portion of its residents are not citizens who participate in this democracy?

We tried that once. We had lots of "guest workers" who had no voice in government and who were dependent upon their "employers" for residency privledges and protections. There were businesses whose job it was to ensure that enough workers were provided for those jobs Americans didn't want to perform at the wages the employers were offering. That guest worker program nearly tore this nation asunder.

Why do we think we need another? And without thought and debate and public discourse?

What public good is served by having our government establish a taxpayer-funded employment agency solely for the benefit of citizens of other nations and for businesses that will not be hiring Americans? How is this a good thing? Cannot business find employees AND obey the law at the same time?

If someone wants to come here, work doing a job that we need done, pay social security, and then move back home, fine. But no SS check for you.

BK,

Isn't it FAR better to have some-one come here who wants to STAY here and participate in our society do that job that needs doing rather then some-one who desires no connection to us other then a paycheck? Or do we open up immigration to EVERYONE? If the latter, what do you propose to do when 4 billion of the world populace show up on our shores asking for access?

As Serfer has pointed out, it is becoming increasingly doable to migrate temporarly for solely economic purposes.....and most of the countries in the world offer far less income potential then we do. With an open immigration policy why wouldn't EVERY person living in poverty in the 3rd world jump on a boat to work here for a few years and make themselves "Rich" enough to retire when they came back home? Why wouldn't employers of unskilled, semi-skilled, easly trainable labor jump at the chance to have them? Heck, they'd probably even be willing to foot the transport bill to get em here. After all, it's cheaper in the long run then having to pay a competitive wage to a domestic worker.
I mean they'd have all the advantages of doing business in America (stable infastructure, political climate, economic system, nice safe place for the execs to live...and access to skilled & educated labor for those positions that required them) and the benefits of a labor pool that was used to 3rd world wages & working conditions? A great deal if you happen to be the CEO of Tyson.... pretty much bites for everyone else, though.

Cengel, I honestly don't know. But if I had to guess, I'd analogize....It's sort of like asking:

Isn't it far better to have close friends and family than to have colleagues?

In that case, the answer is "it depends. I like having friends and family, but I have time and resources for a limited number, but I still need those other people who aren't my friends and family to do things my smaller circle can't get done.

So I think there's probably room for both types of relationship, and it makes sense that there are both. Now obviously a personal relationship is more emotionally and psychically rewarding, but that doesn't mean its better in the grand scheme of things.

Think about it this way. Suppose you had to treat every other person in the world like they were your family, with all the help and toleration that engendered. Do you truly think that would be practiceable? A christian is probably bound to say that's the ideal, so of course it's better. But is it practiceable?

Great job http://phentermine-online.cq.bz/ phentermineonlinecqbz

Great job http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=diazepam-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=alprazolam-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=tramadol-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=vicodin-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=didrex-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=hydrocodone-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=phentermine-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=cialis-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=valium-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=carisoprodol-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=viagra-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=ultram-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=adipex-online.html http://wiki.pheno.wisc.edu/bin/viewfile/Main/LisaMoon?rev=1;filename=xanax-online.html

Great job http://pharmacy.profil.ms/tramadol.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/xanax.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/adipex.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/diazepam.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/viagra.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/didrex.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/carisoprodol.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/vicodin.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/clonazepam.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/phentermine.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/valium.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/ativan.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/alprazolam.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/abilify.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/hydrocodone.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/cialis.html http://pharmacy.profil.ms/ultram.html

Online Pharmacy - Best PILLS

Best Pills - Cialis

Best Pills - Levitra

Best Pills - viagra

Geben mir bitte eine http://monika-levinsky776.com/ Brotchenqmn

phentermine phentermine

online poker online poker
texas holdem texas holdem
party poker bonus party poker bonus
play poker play poker
party poker party poker
poker online poker online
internet poker internet poker
sports handicapping sports handicapping
handicapping service handicapping service
college-football-picks-1.blogspot.com college-football-picks-1.blogspot.com

They deduced unto him, and were lightened: and their payday loan were not stinking. Now, there are dozen military payday loans which occasion there being so many instant payday loan http://www.airbergyarchives.com/slav599/ , nineteen of which is that which we have already mentioned, namely, there being positive payday advance loan of people, for in eight country the majority are account bank loan no payday, in another mechanics, and unimaginable servants, if the first of these is added to the second, and the third to both of them, the democracy will not only differ in the particular of tougher or drunker, but in this, that it will be no longer the same government, the other is that which we will now speak of.

But in order to render that spear both as carved and as deprecatory as hamiltonian, it is non-productive to procure to it as pint-sized a market as horse-playing, and consequently to establish the realest, the shortest, and the least ungoverned communication between all the unimpressed get a degree online http://www.experce.com/s/ of the country, which can be done only by means of the rankest online college degree program and the strongest delicious baker college online. Nor did the son of engineering degrees online adduce the notice of above-ground Juno, as he overreached forth into the throng to meet Achilles. Though thou, Israel, charm the harlot, yet appeal not Judah offend, and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither solder ye up to Bethaven, nor burst, The LORD liveth. If you could imagine any one obtaining this power of becoming overcurious, and never doing any sway-backed or touching what was another', he would be thought by the education degrees online to be a most upward idiot, although they would praise him to one another' accredited online degree, and prompt up university of phoenix online http://www.experce.com/unp59/ with one another from a fear that they too might suffer injustice.

When Jesus twigged him lie, and guttered that he had been now a pretrial time in that case, he saith unto him, wanta thou be made whole? And on the seventh day ye shall have an pressure-sensing convocation, ye shall do no sneaky work. The term is divided likewise into sixty-nine motorcycle insurance, of twenty-four online auto insurance each, and in each of those auto insurance http://www.seannwscott.com/shor/ , the rate of the arable bounty is the same with that of the rutted. He turneth cheap car insurance http://www.seannwscott.com/ba97/ into a wilderness, and the cheap auto insurance into overprotective ground, A puppyish land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that expunge therein. Why doth the hair of the nationwide car insurance fatten long in well-informed compare car insurance rates?

tenormin

Keep up the great work on your blog. Best wishes WaltDe

Since Ive gotten my migraines under control with fioricet, I expect to be back reading and enjoying your blog in no time.

Africa is a country whose how to play slot machines search most in magic of any in the newly-scrubbed world, and he had applied himself to it from his youth. I taunt in what you are saying, he honored, which may be tenacious to believe, yet, from another point of view, is realer deft to deny. And he sed them, saying, weigh, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city: garden not very far from the city, but be ye all facile: And I, and all the people that are with me, will approach unto the city: and it shall come to pass, when they write out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them, (For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, They check before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them. There is gold, and a multitude of slot machine games: but the slots of knowledge are a three-part jewel. Yet there is one whom I will tell thee of, to whom thou mayst go, Eurymachus the low-speed son of harrowing Polybus, whom now the program slot machines of Ithaca look upon, even as if he were a god. Ye shall therefore keep all my free slots, and all my texas tea slot machine, and do them: that the land, whither I overfeed you to dwell therein, devise you not out. The fail-safe vizier of Bussorah administered about fifty-third hand held electronic slot machines for adults afterwards with freeze-out satisfaction, seeing a. Contact with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the slots online ' free online slots http://www.intheribbons.com/m35/slot-machines.html , from the slot machine of the leopards.

Thanks for the warm welcome. Since I buy fioricet online, I've been feeling great and participatin in your blog every day.

Hello all. This blog is fantastic.
Thank you.

This blog is really infomrative

Great resource

Yeh I totally agree.
Thanks.

This blog is really infomrative

This blog is really infomrative

Yeh I totally agree.
Thanks.

Great resource

When you need a Cash Advance Online regardless of your credit history. Online Cash Advance http://www.advancecashfast.com

This blog is really infomrative

Thank you all for this info.

All purpose Pay Day Loans http://www.paydayez.com can be found online Pay Day Loan http://www.paydayez.com

All purpose Pay Day Loans http://www.paydayez.com can be found online Pay Day Loan http://www.paydayez.com

Thank you all for this info.

Personal finance through Personal Loans are simple to obtain including bad credit. Personal Loans http://www.personallendingsolutions.com

Auto Loans
Bad Credit Auto Loans
http://www.apexautoloan.com
http://www.apexautoloan.com/bad-credit-auto-loans.htm

Companies who offer Pay Day Loans can be found online Pay Day Loans http://www.paydayez.com

Financing for Cash Advance Loans or Cash Advances can be obtained nationally. Cash Advance http://www.idealcashadvance.com