Why do Spanish speakers get preferential treatment among
immigrants?
Throughout our rich history, immigrants of many different
nationalities, cultures and languages came to our shores seeking the American
dream. For most of our history, these
immigrants knew that learning English was one of the ways to access the
American dream. Immigrants that spoke
German, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Russian, and in the past, even Spanish worked
hard to learn English and become masters at it.
Generally speaking, the next generation were raised using, and becoming
proficient at, English. This helped
assimilate immigrants into the melting pot of America, strengthening both the
nation as a whole, and the immigrants individually.
Unfortunately, recent immigrants, mainly from Mexico,
Central, and South America have not had to learn English as our government has
mandated that all public notices, ballots, etc. be printed in both English and
Spanish. Where are the government
printings in Korean? German? Russian?
There are none because those groups wanted to fully integrate into the
American culture and take their best shot at achieving the American dream. Sadly, part of the Hispanic population
refuses to learn English and is kowtowed to by our government. This keeps the immigrants (let’s just say
legal right now) from being fully integrated into society and sets up enclaves
within this country that are virtually indistinguishable from a neighborhood in
Mexico. Within these areas, potentials
are not fully fulfilled, and the country misses the full breadth and scope of
the talents of many individuals.
Why are these immigrants so reluctant to adapt? Because they’re not forced to in the USA.
Why do they look at me and smirk when I don’t know Spanish? Because they insist I adapt to them in the
USA.
Why will some languish and depend on government generation
to generation? Because some “leaders”
want them to so they will stay wards of the State – thereby preserving their power.
We live in an unfree world. I can't just go anywhere I want. Even if I go to a country friendly to the United States, there's passports and customs agents and security waiting on me…hell, most of that stuff's here, before I take the flight out. Traveling to places like Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan; even if these were desirable destinations, you'd have to make more than a few phone calls to get in there. And the odds aren't good that you'd be able to leave.
ReplyDeleteIn a free world, the idea that you couldn't go wherever you wanted would be ludicrous. Not literally anywhere, of course. Mountain peaks and ocean trenches range from mostly inaccessible to completely inaccessible. Travelling on private property is always at the discretion of the owner. Police stations, military bases, power plants, etc - these are and will ever be secure places. But in a free world, if you've got the means, you can go to London, Tehran, Vladivostok, Kinshasa, Oslo, wherever. And because it's a free world, you'd see many more signs in many more languages than you do today, depending on the size and origin of ethnic enclaves. It makes sense that store owners throughout Mexican border states would advertise in Spanish, because a good chunk of their customer base speaks Spanish. In the free world scenario, you'd see Japanese signage in China, Vietnam, and Hawaii. You'd see Russian signage in Ukraine, French signage in Spain, Portugese signage in Argentina.
And in a free world, if they want to hire you in Vietnam, or Turkey, or Waziristan, you wouldn't have to cut through acres of red tape to live and work there. You'd go there, buy a house or rent an apartment, and start working. But that's not the world that exists now.
Nowadays, there are a slim handful of nations that can be described as remotely free market. Another slim handful, mostly overlapping the first handful, can be described as positive on the tyranny/liberty scale. The United States, despite all contrary efforts from within its borders notwithstanding, remains far and away the best in the world in terms of economic and personal liberty. And in the long run, if the USA and only a handful of others are economic destinations for people desperate to improve their circumstances, a free world will never be realized. Mexico is one country that has the potential to become a destination country, not a hellhole from which to flee.
When freedom and liberty take hold all over the world, immigration will be just another choice, not a last-ditch effort to survive.