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Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907. "In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people ." Theodore Roosevelt 1907 Every American citizen needs to read this!
It's good, isn't it? I've known several naturalized citizens that were proud to be Americans and acted accordingly. Makes me wonder about all those that don't.
I too have known some immigrants that are proud to be American, and fully proclaim their allegiance to America. One very sweet, friendly Mexican girl I know is constantly on her family's case about their speaking Spanish at home. She tells them that they're Americans now, and need to forsake Spanish and practice their English. Unfortunately, I know many more who have no allegiance to America whatsoever. Many are friendly, kind people, but some are nothing more than petty thugs that should be subjected to a good public flogging followed by being tarred and feathered. They lack any respect for our laws or anything else American, and are only here to get what they can get. You'll see the flag of their home country on their cars and clothing, and most refuse to learn any English whatsoever. I can only communicate with them because I learned Spanish as a hobby many years ago. But then again, it's Americans pandering to them to get their money that's created their refusal to learn English. Why spend all the time and effort to learn a new language when it's not necessary? You can pick up any product off the shelf at your local big box mart or grocery store and the label is bilingual. Here in my home town in western Arkansas, every store has its aisles labeled in English and Spanish. All grocery stores have a huge Hispanic section. Many signs, billboards, and newspaper ads are bilingual. Drive down the street here and you'll see "Hablamos Espanol" or "Se Habla Espanol" on the signs and windows of law offices, insurance agencies, clinics, auto repair shops, cellular phone dealers, etc. The state of Arkansas gives driver's tests in Spanish, and will issue a license to an illegal alien just as quickly as a natural-born citizen. Only in America will you see such nonsense. Try going to Mexico and see if they speak English for you and print everything in English. Just a few nights ago, I was chatting with a waiter at a Mexican restaurant, and he told me that he was amazed by how many Americans here in this town speak Spanish, because in Mexico NOBODY speakes English except in the hotels and restaurants in the tourist trap resort cities that cater to Americans and Europeans. In short, money is what talks, not common courtesy or even common sense. If America would have instead just put it's foot down long ago and forced immigrants to learn English, like it or not, this would never have happened. Of course, NAFTA and Ted Kennedy/Congress are the *real* culprits behind all this illegal immigration mess we're facing today, but that's a whole other can of worms. In reality, we could have made them learn English, but we still can't change their hearts. I mentioned Hispanics, but they're far from having a monopoly on the anti-America mentality. I've met many people of various Central American and Asian descent that literally hate America and its people with a fiery passion, despite their being naturalized citizens and having lived here for a very long time. They're only here for the money, and for whatever else they can get. By his comments that Mr. Vinyl posted, Roosevelt obviously wanted to weed out these types by making it clear they were simply not welcome here. Unfortunately, there are no Teddy Roosevelts around today, nor Ronald Reagans, nor Patrick Henrys, George Washingtons, Ben Franklins, or John Hancocks, only Benedict Arnolds. We can complain about it till the cows come home, and Congress can make laws (that will in reality make things worse instead of better) from now until doomsday, but it's all in vain. It's far too late to solve the problem, or to even put a dent in it for that matter. Like most all of America's problems, the last chance date to fix it expired 30 or more years ago. Thermionic
And Roosevelt is talking about "legal" immigration. Wonder what his thoughts would be on illegal immigration?
"And Roosevelt is talking about "legal" immigration. Wonder what his thoughts would be on illegal immigration?" Probably, "Now's the time to start using that big stick I was talkin' about." Thermionic
I agree with you. Either we have to get real serious about deporting all illegal aliens or get real serious about removing welfare. You can't have welfare and go soft on illegal immigration or you'll just subsidize the whole world. As for the language problem, since one must be able to demonstrate proficiency in English in order to become a citizen, there really should be no reason to support other languages. It is not a "hardship" or seen as prejudice to have government documents, voting forms, school books and all other public correspondence in English and only in English. When a immigrant naturalizes, they should be proficient in English anyway.
I had a friend that I worked with back in Ks whose parents immigrated in the 1950's. They wanted to be Americans. The kids were not allowed learn or speak Spanish in the house. We would always ask him what this word or that word meant and he would reply "How the hell do I know, I only speak English, cuz I'm a fricken American".