A Nation of Illegal Immigrants

972 Views | 2 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by sp4149
sp4149
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What could a nation of illegal immigrants become?
And what could be the consequences?

Most recently there was a short-lived nation created by illegal and violent immigrants,
the now deposed ISIS caliphate. There have been other larger influxes of refugees/immigrants
in the world, mostly in eastern Europe, that joined in separationist groups also based on
religious grounds and again religious warfare was the result. Similarly Communism, almost
as a state mandated religion, spread across borders, and in most cases has failed in the long run.

In my 70+ years I don't remember a nation founded by illegal immigrants that did not have a religious
basis or a country overrun by groups other than religious or communist advocates. It would seem
that immigrants who were non-Communist and not intent on spreading their faith, have not proven
to be a threat to their host country.

In those 70+ years, the most important and influential nation of illegal immigrants has to be Israel.
I grew up with the children of Holocaust survivors. The parents had their concentration camp tattoos
on their arms. Survivors who didn't move to the US went to Palestine, kicked out the British and created
a new nation of Israel. I read the fictionalized novel Exodus by Leon Uris and had simply accepted
the right of Jews to re-occupy Palestine after the Holocaust. For years I never considered the Palestinians,
formerly ruled by the British who now had Israeli governors. They had been the ones living in Palestine for 2000 years, but subject to others.

When I was at Cal a Palestinian family moved in next door. They didn't assimilate easily and the oldest boy got into confrontations with the sons of a Jewish neighbor. My mother called the woman of the house,
Mrs. Ayatollah; these new neighbors were shunned as much as an Al-Qaeda family would be today. We had been neighbors for 15 years before I learned they were Palestinian Christians; but as Palestinians they were shunned by American Christians and Jews, the same as if they had been Muslim. They were at the bottom of the social order in Israel and emigrating to the US hadn't changed things in the short term. Over the years I have met and worked with other Middle Eastern Christians, emigrant victims of the ongoing Islam/Israel
conflict. When it comes to refugees, we don't seem to welcome Christian refugees, strange for a nominally Christian country.

concordtom
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If you are 70, then you'd have been subject to the draft. I'd be glad to hear about your experience.

Others are welcome to share as well. I was just explaining to a younger family member about older males in our family, how they felt and dealt with it. One conscientious objector. One preemptively joined Coast Guard. A few university deferments. (Nobody with bone spur exemptions, but would have surely gladly accepted.)

Thanks.
CT, 50.
Now back to your post...
concordtom
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In a (shrinking) world that has more travel options, more financial portability/trade/exchange, the average American remains geographically isolated or locked into a too simplistic view of things.

We speak one language.
We are huge in size and it take many hours if not days to drive to a border.
The northern border is similar culturally (other than tiny Quebec), while the southern border is a desert with only drinking beach tourist destinations on mainland Mexico that people fly to.
We don't mix with carribean island nations other than as party beach spots.
Mexican border towns are poor, used for cheap commerce.
We do not respect our nearby foreign neighbors. We financially dominate them.
We are conceited and arrogant and have little poor sensitivity or understanding of others' experience or viewpoints.
It's somewhat narcissistic, no?

These conditions produce a xenophobic nation, particularly when led by not only a xenophobe, but one who creates and encourages more of same.

But, Trump aside, it's a good story you tell. This goes back a loooong time and seems to be part of who we are, which is not such the shining city on the hill that we imagine ourselves to be.
sp4149
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concordtom said:

If you are 70, then you'd have been subject to the draft. I'd be glad to hear about your experience.

Others are welcome to share as well. I was just explaining to a younger family member about older males in our family, how they felt and dealt with it. One conscientious objector. One preemptively joined Coast Guard. A few university deferments. (Nobody with bone spur exemptions, but would have surely gladly accepted.)

Thanks.
CT, 50.
Now back to your post...
Student deferment (2S) until I graduated.
1A Deferment after that (1970), High enough lottery number (262)
Unemployable due to 1A status, many engineers at the time lost their
defense industry deferments, and also lost their jobs.

While in college I had frequent ankle sprains, [url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orthopedist][/url]Orthopedist[url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orthopedist][/url] looked at my
ankle x-rays, I had broken several bones, but still didn't get a Four Freckle deferment.

Worked a variety of odd, temporary jobs while sending out resumes, Cal Placement
Center was zero help once I had graduated. Eventually decided to get an MBA for a recent,
second degree. Turned down a job from Ford in Fremont while writing my thesis, They wouldn't
let me get my MBA if I was working for them (condition of the job offer). I was also applying for
government jobs, but was untouchable without a Veterans' Preference. Eventually the second
degree got me an entry level job with the Navy, even though I was qualified for jobs paying 50% more
to start. After five years I was vested and able to move into higher paying jobs that I had been
initially qualified. Gained five years of leave seniority, but missed the regular step increases in salary.
Because I had so much college graduate work I was not eligible for a career development internship
(I already had the classes) which became a disadvantage when trying to enter upper management.
Extra credit was given to interns when competing for advancement. And of course Ronnie eliminated
the ability of employees like me to earn a second pension as a civilian DOD employee. Of course
military DOD employees were and still are the big double dippers in the pension game.

If I had gone into the service in 1970 and survived Vietnam, the same career path would have resulted
in higher pay intially, advancement preference and much greater retirement benefits. I just didn't know
all that back in 1970.
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