I think most people have both intellectual and deeper, visceral reasons for the policies they promote. When people ask me why I defend immigration...Yes, there are lots of good intellectual reasons, but also, *it's what I grew up with*.https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1056206835810791425 …
-
-
Immigration was part of the fabric of daily life and community, but it was also a *nationalist* thing. We told ourselves that America, our country, was great because it was a nation of immigrants. That our nation took people from anywhere and uplifted them, gave them a shot.
Show this thread -
Immigrants were great people, of course. They were my friends' parents. They introduced me to interesting things. But on top of that, their presence symbolized the greatness of a nation that I felt I belonged to.
Show this thread -
Without immigration, we were - what? Just like all those other countries, which I imagined (not correctly, but not entirely incorrectly either) as closed-off societies that defined themselves by race, ancestry, and pedigree.
Show this thread -
In fact, I still believe something like this, though now I've seen with my own eyes the power of the xenophobic backlash that has also occasionally defined America throughout its history. I believe we have the power to stop that backlash if we want.
Show this thread -
The America of the 1990s and 2000s is gone now (and yes, parts of it needed to go). But I want the new America that emerges from our current time of troubles to retain the essential elements of the America I believed in when I was young. And immigration is one of those.
Show this thread -
This is not to say that there aren't also very good intellectual, pragmatic justifications for immigration. There are plenty. But for anyone who wondered about why I'm *emotionally* invested in the issue...well, there you go. (end)
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
Isn't this justification about the stock, which is still the same, if not more, whereas the debate generally is about the flow ?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
There’s a good piece lurking in here about what our immigration policies looked like then and what they’d look like now if we extrapolated based on population increases
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
Immigration should be 90 percent merit and 10 percent humanitarian.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.