In Defense of North America

Roy Beck, American journalist and public policy analyst,  is right when he says immigration can't accomplish the goal of relieving world poverty.  I don't think the government ever stated that it could.  Too bad his message offers nothing constructive, no suggestions about ways to reduce poverty or hunger, or provide aid to these poor countries, or even links to service organizations. In his final comments he says that we should let the citizens of these poor countries, many of them under the thumb of dictators, 'bloom where they are planted.'  Well, it's a little hard to bloom when you haven't any water. Beck leaves the stage, and they're left high and dry as his audience applauds. 

His is an apples and oranges argument, the aim to confuse and obfuscate, and incite fear and anger toward people in this country 'not like us' - i.e. not born and raised here -- who use our resources and take our jobs, never mind that they also produce jobs, or that we've got the room. Even highly populated U.S. cities can't compare to the crowded conditions in Mumbai or Shanghai.

North America IS fortunate. What did we do differently?  We gave priority to education, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom to worship as you please; we wrote the Bill of Rights into our Constitution, championed the democratic process. Women are not oppressed or subservient--at least not at the moment; we have equal rights, reproductive rights and effective birth control methods--at the moment. Our smaller populations demand and consume fewer goods and services. We are provided better health care.

Maybe North America could be called 'lucky.' But other countries like New Zealand, Switzerland, Singapore, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, the continent of Australia, and cities like London and Paris fare well too. The people suffering for one reason or another -- mainly because of an oppressive or corrupt political system, poor industrialization, fewer resources, lack of birth control or women's rights, lack of religious freedom, little education -- will continue to suffer. If they're going to find their way to better lives, education is essential. The hurdles are great, maybe insurmountable, and we, who live in 'lucky' countries, have an opportunity to help. The world is interconnected and interdependent, like it or not.