The United States has dominated the political scene ever since the end of the two world wars. We may be looked down upon when we are tourists in other countries, we may not have the highest scores on international student test rankings, we may not even have the most efficient economy—but there’s a silent respect given to the United States and its residents all over the world, and it didn’t come unearned. The dollar still remains the standard in the international economy, and as a nation, we hold the most powerful international military, economic, and political ties, and it’s probably going to remain that way for quite a while. But why? How has all of this continued for such a long time? A few good leaders could not have done it—our own citizens have given them low approval ratings. So what’s the secret ingredient that leaves us at the top?
The answer or rather answers, it turns out, are quite simple to identify. Our immigrants. They are your neighbors, your classmates, your coworkers, or your bosses. They could be anyone from your yoga instructor to your fifth grade teacher. They hail from different lands, they bring different cultures and traditions to your social environment, they enrich your living experience with diversity, and they are, most importantly, our most valuable import. These are the components of the United States’ domestic population who have significantly contributed to the general net productivity of the nation, boosting its performance on multiple levels.
We’re a melting pot of people, a beautiful blend of different ethnic backgrounds that makes up the colorful collage that is the United States. People with half a chance of making it here would do just about anything to realize their dreams. The reason for our dominance on the political spectrum is the talent we attract internationally from every nation that can’t offer the domestic comforts that the United States offers. Everyone— from the average Joe to the undiscovered Einstein—is attracted to the prospect of a better life, hence the abundance of intelligent minds living among us, the undiscovered diamonds in the mine.
The general population of the United States is a diverse one, and in its diversity lies its strength and its place in the world. Diversity has allowed us to approach our hurdles in ways a homogenous population would never have allowed for, to attack problems from different angles, and to come up with solutions that benefit the majority. The potential of this resource we have is grossly underestimated and even less utilized, and therein lies the problem. We must, as a population, seek to maximize the usefulness of our resources and recognize those that benefit us the most. A democratic nation’s power is one derived from the people, and it is no wonder that a nation with such levels of diversity occupies the place it does in the world.
Cover image by Laslovarga via Wikimedia Commons.
Actually I would say it’s quite the opposite: you do not accept immigrants unless they blend in and in second generation can’t even point to their parents’ country’s capital on a map (wasn’t it Dan Quayle who wondered if he should take a course in Latin before visiting Latin America?) How many US Americans know that the smaller land mass in North America is the US? How many even know that NORTH America includes a Spanish-speaking country? How can o many botched interventions be explained, right up from the lost Korean war in the 50s if the US populace ever cared about its immigrants’ legacy?
It is neither the acceptance of immigrants in the United States nor the ability of the average citizen to identify geographical points; rather, it is what the new generation of immigrants has brought to the nation that is the focus of this article. You see, the United States has had the immigration debate for so long, every so often there’s someone who pipes up and says, “well, weren’t we all immigrants in a way?” and really, that brings the point round to what the real debate is, if the first round of immigration created this nation to be what it is today, what is the significance of the second round?