Transition, Transformation and Radical Thinking.
There was a character in the old testament who had become famous or infamous for his ability to hassle his way into any situation. Those who named him may have predicted this when his younger twin beat him to the birth canal, the younger grasped the heel of the older quickly gaining the name "supplanter". Later he gained the favor of his mother and was able to steal his brother birthright. But fate caught up with him when he met his soon to be father in law. Falling in love with one of his daughters the older man managed to trick him into marrying the older instead of the younger. Blinded or guided by love Jacob chose to pay or work for fourteen years to gain the love of the second as well as the first.
This is the story of most immigration systems (ok the American). You will spend a precious amount of your time paying for your love of Country with your devotion and work while waiting for the system to recognize your efforts as sufficient for citizenship. All this while watching others loafing around with these privileges while seeming not to understand just how much it is all worth.
I think you (in the U.S) for all intents and purposes have entered into state of war. At least a declaration of the same. If you watch the last few years in the Europe as she sought to make the most of her union, casualties such as Greece (that tried to default on her debts) immediately began to rehash memories from the second world war. And soon smaller previously less popular parties of mainly right wing radicals began to call for a ban on immigration as well as a full assault on foreigners. Italy for some reason kept making it through. Even if it's progress was impeded by resignations and agitations in successive governments. Italy if you remember was on the same side as Germany and Japan. And for a while at least for Japan there was a lot of progress.
Without necessarily planning for it Germany has managed to rebuild and resurface as would any country after the effects of a war. This time around it has emerged as a regional force almost holding Europe together singlehandedly.
The biggest question for the British and the Americans especially as they attempt to deal with immigration is, will citizens be willing to take the jobs that have almost now been reserved for the more lowly foreigners or in the case of the U.K Eastern Europeans?
The interesting thing about these types of economic wars is that the casualties are not as severe on the eyes as those of other conventional wars. But there are casualties. The weapons differ only in form but they are weapons nonetheless. There are imports, exports, tariffs, trade barriers, currency controls and manipulation, immigration bans, complex policy documents, and tightening of economic belts all of which can be used to make locals totally miserable.
What makes this so uncomfortable for the U.S and the U.K and all those countries that have opened their doors to immigrants is that every time they have engagements with other nations they almost always end up shooting themselves in the foot because of the presence of dual citizenship laws and in the case of the U.S almost unavoidable internment camps which have had their place in history for almost every major American Confrontation. This was probably most pronounced with Japan but there were similar effects much earlier when the Chinese who had gained a place in the California's working classes were found in direct conflict with the gold rush. As can be expected, citizens of the Koreas, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Cuba would soon also suffer at least internally in terms of loyalties. But that is part of the price that many especially fresh entrants will have to deal with when almost inevitably the American take on roles they cannot avoid.
There was a character in the old testament who had become famous or infamous for his ability to hassle his way into any situation. Those who named him may have predicted this when his younger twin beat him to the birth canal, the younger grasped the heel of the older quickly gaining the name "supplanter". Later he gained the favor of his mother and was able to steal his brother birthright. But fate caught up with him when he met his soon to be father in law. Falling in love with one of his daughters the older man managed to trick him into marrying the older instead of the younger. Blinded or guided by love Jacob chose to pay or work for fourteen years to gain the love of the second as well as the first.
This is the story of most immigration systems (ok the American). You will spend a precious amount of your time paying for your love of Country with your devotion and work while waiting for the system to recognize your efforts as sufficient for citizenship. All this while watching others loafing around with these privileges while seeming not to understand just how much it is all worth.
I think you (in the U.S) for all intents and purposes have entered into state of war. At least a declaration of the same. If you watch the last few years in the Europe as she sought to make the most of her union, casualties such as Greece (that tried to default on her debts) immediately began to rehash memories from the second world war. And soon smaller previously less popular parties of mainly right wing radicals began to call for a ban on immigration as well as a full assault on foreigners. Italy for some reason kept making it through. Even if it's progress was impeded by resignations and agitations in successive governments. Italy if you remember was on the same side as Germany and Japan. And for a while at least for Japan there was a lot of progress.
Without necessarily planning for it Germany has managed to rebuild and resurface as would any country after the effects of a war. This time around it has emerged as a regional force almost holding Europe together singlehandedly.
The biggest question for the British and the Americans especially as they attempt to deal with immigration is, will citizens be willing to take the jobs that have almost now been reserved for the more lowly foreigners or in the case of the U.K Eastern Europeans?
The interesting thing about these types of economic wars is that the casualties are not as severe on the eyes as those of other conventional wars. But there are casualties. The weapons differ only in form but they are weapons nonetheless. There are imports, exports, tariffs, trade barriers, currency controls and manipulation, immigration bans, complex policy documents, and tightening of economic belts all of which can be used to make locals totally miserable.
What makes this so uncomfortable for the U.S and the U.K and all those countries that have opened their doors to immigrants is that every time they have engagements with other nations they almost always end up shooting themselves in the foot because of the presence of dual citizenship laws and in the case of the U.S almost unavoidable internment camps which have had their place in history for almost every major American Confrontation. This was probably most pronounced with Japan but there were similar effects much earlier when the Chinese who had gained a place in the California's working classes were found in direct conflict with the gold rush. As can be expected, citizens of the Koreas, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Cuba would soon also suffer at least internally in terms of loyalties. But that is part of the price that many especially fresh entrants will have to deal with when almost inevitably the American take on roles they cannot avoid.
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