I was inspired to write this post after reading today's "Nutpick-a-palooza." BTW, it should simply be "Nutpickalooza." The title was an homage to former Senator and longtime Google joke Rick Santorum. The wingnut rantfest can be read here:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Whether you've read it or not, the spark that ignited their ire is the fact that the non-immigrant white population is shrinking in the US, and this diversity will destroy America as we know it. For starters, "America as we know it" has never actually existed. Norman Rockwell was not portraying all of America in his works, and if he were alive would agree with that. As Bill Murray said in "Stripes," we are the wretched refuse, and we've been kicked out of every other nation on the planet.
I'm a native New Yorker, though ironically, I am not a Native American. Studying my city's history, within the first decades of its founding (albeit as New Amsterdam), there were people from at least 50 different countries represented in the population. Even though we did not outlaw slavery in New York until the 1820's (and I say "we" despite the fact that it was about 100 years before my family got here), New Amsterdam/York has always been about tolerance and diversity.
New Amsterdam/York was not set up as a colony, but as a franchise outlet. Its purpose in life was to make money. The settlers did not care who came as long as they wanted to help make money. They worshiped the Almighty Dollar before there was an Almighty Dollar. We have Little Italy, Chinatown, Koreatown, Harlem, Spanish Harlem, a Greek community in Astoria, a Russian community in Brighton Beach, and a veritable UN of native born people living along the stops of the 7 train. As a city, our economy generates more revenue for the federal government than most states. Your welcome.
Now, if you look at the world through Republican colored glasses, and noting the irony, rose-colored is red, the color associated with the same people who once said, "Better Dead than Red," you don't like New York, and ignore our successes. For the most part, you define the word immigrant to mean "Spic," and you believe that they come here to get the same free money (welfare) that we give to those lazy Blah people. They send their children to our free schools and go to the emergency room for free healthcare.
Undocumented immigrants are not "illegals" until they have been proven guilty in a court of law. Countless economists tell us that they contribute far more to the economy than they use. Some of this is possibly due to their fear of being caught and thus avoiding the emergency room. The government tells us that current illegal immigration levels are at net zero, making the cure for illegal immigration recession. Personally, I prefer immigrants to recession.
While I consider myself Caucasian when asked, there was a time when people would not consider my white, but Jew. Same for Italians, and I don't suppose you've ever heard of a sign that read "No Irish need apply."