Rest Day Read July 28, 2010

Rest Day Read (SR-39)
Immigration Is U.S by Joel Kotkin, Forbes Magazine
"You can sing about sea to shining sea or amber waves of grain, but it's immigration that provides America's basic rhythm.  Nothing distinguishes the American experience from that of other nations more than the mass migration of people from elsewhere to here.  We are truly a nation of immigrants."
"Our 21st-century economy will be shaped in large part by these immigrants and their descendants."
I am an immigrant, several generations directly removed, but I am still proud of the fact that I am from immigrant blood. I am proud of the fact I am Croatian, Irish, English, French and maybe a few others thrown into the pot.  America is the Great Melting Pot.  Built on it, made of it and grown on it.  That is the fabric of what makes this a great nation.  The greatness of this nation lies in the very fact we are a conglomeration of races, cultures, ideas and religions. We need new immigrants to keep the fire burning bright or even light a fire under a "us" that has become stagnate.  We should be battling illegal immigration by promoting and simplifying legal immigration. We should be opening our door instead of slamming it shut.  Sure it will cause all sorts of problems and issues, but isn't that why our nation is here?
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed,to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door."— Emma Lazarus, 1883.