1. What motivates immigrants to come to the United States (today)? Consider what they lose and what they can gain in your argument.
Immigrants from all over the world come to the United States for many reasons, but I think they have one goal in their minds: The hope to get a good, stable job. The United States is famous for good job opportunity, and once this word spread to outside countries, the peoples' immediate goals were to move to the U.S. They hoped to escape many fears seen in other countries: religious barriers, strict living rules, poor economic conditions, poor living conditions, and more. In the U.S., immigrants could see the success of Americans and desired it for themselves. However, this wasn't without loss.
Moving from another country to America can be dangerous and tragic: An immigrant may leave behind family, or bring family and attempt to enter illegally (in order to provide a better living standard to the family). However, if the immigrant safely enters the U.S., job opportunities and better living standards become available. While I may not agree with how immigrants are generally paid less than minimum wage, I do believe that to some this is a fortune compared to their previous jobs in their home country.
2. Thousands of Europeans chose to move to the British colonies. Some for economic reasons and some for freedoms. If you decided to immigrate somewhere, would you move for economic reasons or for freedom?
I suppose that would depend on which of these I was most unhappy with. If I was living in a place with high economic levels but low levels of personal freedom, I would move in order to be individually free (like freedom of speech, religion, etc). However, if I were living in a location with high freedoms but low economic conditions, I would move to find a better economy. If I had to choose one or the other, though, I would choose to live with high freedom and low economy. This is because I find it more important in my life to be unrestricted than to have a flourishing economy around me.
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Very thoughtful and thorough responses. I especially like this thought "If I had to choose one or the other, though, I would choose to live with high freedom and low economy. This is because I find it more important in my life to be unrestricted than to have a flourishing economy around me."
ReplyDeleteIt is truly refreshing to read your posts because they show that you've put a great deal of thought and effort into making a strong and well written argument. Thank you.
20/20 points.