Why do Imigrants embrace the "America Dream" more so than Americans?
Posted by Edmond Dantes on Mon, 05/05/2008 - 16:49 inI was reading this article from Newsweek (http://www.newsweek.com/id/135380) and towards the end it claims immigrants to America dominate some of America's fasting growing economic sectors and receive more PHDs than Americans. More specifically it states the following
"Foreign students and immigrants account for almost 50 percent of all science researchers in the country. In 2006 they received 40 percent of all PhDs. By 2010, 75 percent of all science PhDs in this country will be awarded to foreign students. When these graduates settle in the country, they create economic opportunity. Half of all Silicon Valley start-ups have one founder who is an immigrant or first generation American."
You can debate the validity of this claim forever but for a moment lets assume this is true. I for one as a College student who has many professors with PHDs whom I can hardly understand can see how this COULD be true. Anyways, why do Americans seem to have given up on the "American Dream" while immigrants are embracing it and outperforming us. Why are we so lazy? Why are we some of the most obese cultures in the world? Have we given up on our country? Is it a result of our culture and bad parenting? Explain why the aforementioned may be true.
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It's my belief that America has lost faith in itself. Individuals no longer believe in the American dream of personal achievement. People continue to treat the world as if it were a zero-sum game in which I can't have mine, if you have yours. Honest capitalism(capitalism is democracy) benefits everybody from the successful entrepreneur, to the potential of 6 billion individuals in the world making their own decisions, both successes and failures. That's 6 billion opportunities to get something done right. Any government monopoly only has one chance to get it wrong before the politicians have invested their careers in a failure, then no one will try something that might work because it might not. The only safe attempt is the one that doesn't quite work because it's the least risk.
Freedom is itself and act of faith. It's a belief in individual achievement, starting with the belief in the potential for one's own achievement, but also a passing of that respect to others.
The one trait that immigrants, both legal and otherwise, have over "born" Americans, is the faith that the potential for personal achievement in America is worth the risk of moving away from their native countries, families and even languages.
Yes, all of that is true. However, the article I cited doesn't involve illegal immigrants taking low paying jobs it involves legal immigrants who are scooping up more PhDs and Master degrees and becoming engineers and doctors more often than Americans. If your argument is that we've all been socialized into the welfare society and immigrants aren't as susceptible to that socialization as immediately then I may be able to agree with you. I do think that people think the government is their safety net and they can do anything they wish and there won't be consequences because Johnny who lives next door, his tax dollars will bail me out. Or its OK Bear Stearns the Fed will print more money for you because you make piss poor business decisions. I think as a species or maybe just as a culture we have strayed too far away from the survival of the fittest (physical and mental fitness) mind set. The only thing that may be able to shake us from this culture is its destruction. By no means am I advocating its destruction but only then would you see our human mammalian instinct kick back into action.
I see your point of distinction between the low paying jobs and those jobs that are being shiped overseas. It still points back to complacency.
Government tells us it is good business practice to open our labor trade markets to off shore resources (and honestly, it's not a bad idea in some business sectors). Companies that develop software, for example, can pay lower wages for 24 hour development and support... It's a no-brainer, and I don't blame the companies.
What I do blame, however, is government intrusion to prevent a free-market society tht would allow the pay discrepencies to naturally balance out -- and the complacency of society to accept that "it's just how it is when you outsource" mentality. Thus, promoting a complacent attitude even in hese types of sectors.
Talk to anyone (the general uninformed "Joe") who is economically impacted by the higher gas prices, higher grocery prices, higher health care prices, higher insurance prices and just ask them why it is that way, and what can be done to fix it. More often than not, you will hear things like "Bush has ruined us, and Hillary/Obama/McCain is the saving grace." yet, not one of them can point to a single policy that would define a savior legacy. Why? They are complacent to follow the lemming drown on chants of "Hope & Change" for fear of being that outsider who supports the right kind of necessary change as opposed to the fodder of feel-good change.
How does it get fixed? Elect someone (like Ron Paul) who brings to the table the ideas to enact real and vital change... Who understands economics, liberty, and who won't sell out to the establishment. You hold people accountable and remove the bloated bureaucracies that are designed to remove accountability of the people, and you remind people that it is their duty to always maintain their Constitutional Rights - and to challenge anyone who tries to take them away. You educate and illuminate minds, and you make sure the real messages of freedom and liberty (like Paul's) are spread to the masses.
In short, you remove complacency.
Oh, here's another example of the lemming mentality.
Does anyone REALLY know what the DHS "threat" levels really mean? I'm just as guilty as the next in assuming that if it is "elevated" or "imminent" or whatever... yellow, red, whatever... I assume that whatever DHS says, then the feds MUST be doing what they need to do to protect my safety... I mean, afterall, it's DHS right? It's a government program that wants to protect me right? {chuckle}
No, it's a system that has no purpose without me having that belief that I need the feds to protect me on elevated threat levels, so I do, and they continue to do their thing. Before "threats" were ever publicized, the government never needed DHS to tell us or protect us right? When, in fact, the threats have ALWAYS been there. I'm not "out of sight, out of mind" oriented, but I certainly believe the feds need to be held to account just like every American citizen... not just for their own safety, but for the sovereignty of this land.
No more.
Breaking this kind of mental lemming-tardation is imperative to supporting the cause of "The Revolution". To no longer be complacent in accepting what the government tells us at face value... To take back our land from an invasion and the imminent threats and societal impacts it brings with it.
Ask King Kamehameha of Hawaii what happens when you are complacent about the presence of foreign nationals... It's still a sore spot and point of contention that the natives of the Hawaiian islands will never let America live down.
One word - Complacency.
When a society is socialized, it loses all incentive to act in any other way.
It's no different than when we look around us at the lemmings who are just now coming out in droves to support Obama as first time voters because they've been branded "Uncle Tom" if they don't with cries of "bring out the black vote". They are content with "being a part of history" even if that history is a page that should not be written (and no, I'm not saying it's because of his race, but rather, because of his fluffy, yet unsubstantial message of "hope and change" which means more free socialized programming). They don't understand the ramifications, and frankly, they don't care because it's easier to sit around on their lazy arses, watching their reality T.V., playing their video games, and lending trust that their elected officials have their best interests at heart. {cough, cough}
It's no different than people wasting their vote on Juan McAmnesty for the sake of "voting republican" in the absence of another viable candidate. It's easier to try to elect a "republican" (without regard for his fiscal/social ideals) simply because of his label... in the hopes that another Ron Paul-esque candidate will come along in 2012. In hopes that our country can weather another 4 years of a completely inept governmental establishment. It's easier to employ bullying tactics and to bash the Dems and those "kooky" Paulanthropists, beating the puffy chests, and trusting that the government really really does have its people's best interest at heart. Funny though how they never equate their misinformed bullying tactics to that thug knucklehead that always took their lunch money in the 4th grade. {cough, cough}
It's no different than people who listen to the rhetoric of a "summer gas tax repeal", believing that the economic relief they feel at the pump is one part of some magical grand economic relief... all the while, taking their "economic stimulus refund" checks and paying off the credit card bills they amassed last Christmas (thus defeating the purpose of "economic stimulus" -- without regard to where the government amassed such a huge windfall to accommodate this kind of relief effort. All because they choose to not research and fully understand the economics behind any of it... because the government told them it's what we need. {cough, cough}
"OK, if they say so, who am I to argue?" is a popular retort I often hear... Little do they know that they open a can of worms when they make such complacent and apathetic arguments to me.
"You are an American citizen. It is not only your right, but your civic responsibility to argue and call your government to question and account." is my response... I have said it so many times, it rolls off of the tongue freely.
In the end though... the country (as a whole) will stay its course, electing that "magic bullet" candidate that never materializes... that guy (or gal) that continues to cry for a "change" to the status quo... without thought as to what that change is (or if it is even beneficial to me, you, or even them). Flip-flopping party lines, further establishing the blur that is needed to create the necessary single party government system that will give away our sovereignty faster than anyone can say “Shut the hell up Paula Abdul, your blabbering is incoherent at best!"
It's just pure complacency and is a threat to everyone's liberty and safety. Welcome to the new lemming nation.
"DeltaRho2K, Out!"
I agree with you. However are you saying immigrants out perform Americans because Americans are complacent/lazy? If so what caused this complacency? How can we fix it? Can we fix it?
That's exactly what I am suggesting...
Americans are content with letting illegal immigrants come into this conutry to "do the jobs we won't do" while seeking that "American Dream". I wholeheartedly believe that the majority of them come here to honestly seek a better life. I don't condone it, but it is what it is.
As to what caused this complacency, I can't answer that. I can't speak for what I witness around me. I can only speak for myself, and I can say emphaticaly, that there is absolutely nothing more important to me (aside from God) than to ensure I work hard to the best of my abilities and provide for me and my family. Honestly, even though it is not in compliance with our laws, I believe that's the intent of most illegal immigrants as well.
IMHO, I believe some of the problems stem from a welfare system that has no outs. Once someone is indoctrinated into the welfare way of life, what incentive do they have to "work hard" to remove themselves from it? None - because they are convinced they "need" the government handouts to survive. If the handouts disappeared, what would happen? You'd probably witness the public outcry for help, then the public backlash... but IF society was able to make it past that, then people would have to buckle down and survive. Some would resort to lawless means (but law enforcement doesn't go away - so I think it's widely recognized as a bad option). What does that leave? People will survive or perish, and the only way to survive is to fight for it. A citizen who is poor, uneducated, and relying on welfare won't try to fight for the jobs of well-educated, middle to upper class people for the sake of some sort of "they owe me" mentality. No, they fight for the jobs that are usurped away from them by those who are willing to do the low wage work. They recognize this is insufficient so they take multiple jobs, or they educate themselves to climb the ladder of succes. That's how it effectively worked long before the welfare system was established. They now have incentive to work for it, because their very existence depends on it. I think it's kind of ironic that since the welfare system started, our taxes have pumped more than 5 TRILLION dollars into it, and yet, in 2008, we have more per capita poverty stricken people than we did the day the welfare system was started in 1935. Supporters would say that it was vitally necessary to maintian civility in the trying times following the stockmarket crash of 1929, but those are also the same people who don't recognize the transitions that occured to move away from the gold standard prior to the collapse - and how a gold standard could have/would have mitigated some of the fiscal problems that befell the nation.
There are a million other things to point at, but it all boils down to personal accountability. If people accepted personal accountability for what it is, and not what they perceive it to be (a means by which failure can be assigned to them by outside interests), then the sooner we can move forward as a nation.
Has anyone figured out why people are griping that the national minimum wage stayed so low for so long? Wait, wait, wait... back up. Why do we even have a federally established "minimum wage" anyhow? Isn't that counterproductive to a free-market society? Isn't that federal price fixing for a commodity? You betcha!
but, to the person who is earning minimum wage, it's their guarantee they won't fall further into poverty so long as they keep their head above water (with assistance from the welfare system). Now, we have 2 things the government tells us we "need".
Just some small examples of why government interaction leads to a complacent society...
I think that the reason that the immigrants are coming in like they are 'illegally' is because the elite want the North American Union. Most Americans that I know, and whom grew up in rural areas are not lazy in the physical since. But what Ameircan have become lazy with is keeping the Government in check, watching the walls for intruders, as well the halls of Congress. We have sat back and said to government to watch itself, to be good, while we take a little nap.
No, the majority of Americans are not lazy, and the majority are not the in the cities. The term 'redneck' is a legacy of hard working men and woman who have become sunburned by being out in the heat and sun working hard keeping this country alive. The Farmers and Ranchers of this country have been stolen from, and now the rest are going to suffer the same fate by having their lively hoods taken away as well by lower wages, and higher prices.
And that is what is taking place. The entire reason, they are allowed to come into the county, and encouraged to do so, to take advantage of what they are giving away to them, is it fills the elite pockets more, by devaluing which increases the debt of the dollar, that then fills their pockets with that filthy cash the whores are after. It further destabilizes the US, which would make the scared citizens apt more for a supposed stronger union of Canada, Mexico, and the US.
The same thing took place in the Technology sector. Everything was shipped overseas for a cheaper price. Is it because the person was lazy, or lacking in skill? No.
The illegal immigrant does not have to be paid well, its called slavery...
Most make around minimum wage, which is still 5.75 an hour, some dream land here.
It is all by design. All of it..
Again, the American People have been lazy in regards to observing who leads them. Asking questions pertaining to subjects they are told dont matter. Letting thief's and devils speak lies into their ears, but getting distracted by the very football game these same theirs transmit to our heads to wary us of course. And there are thousands of distractions for us to choose from, see our masters at least care for our variety, but only as long as we eat from the information plate they provide, only as long as we believe what they tell us is fact and fiction.
Americans are lazy in the fact they think once free always free as a body. Some still think they have freedom when they are still imprisoned in the very matrix in which they feel freed from, breaking out and into one box after another.
Because they have not been bathed in materialism to the extent that they have forgot about reality and the rest of the world. They have not had the enemy rock them to sleep with Nursery rhymes from the blue glow of radiation from the t.v. at night. They want we we do not want, or at least we have shown that up till now in our collective mindset. We have been of wandering around the jungle jim of our mind, while our shores have been invaded.