Thread: Immigrants deserve thanks for positive population growth

Originally published October 15, 2006

Immigrants deserve thanks for positive population growth



By Gerald Ensley
DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
We're still No. 3!

And we owe it all to immigrants. As we always have.


So let's celebrate. And be nicer.

Sometime this week - Tuesday is the official prediction - the United States' population will hit 300 million people. Somewhere in this great land, a baby will be born or an immigrant will land (or sneak across the border).

We will strengthen our standing as the third most populous nation on earth, behind only China (1.3 billion) and India (1 billion). Fourth-place Indonesia (240 million) is dropping way behind.

Three hundred million people is an amazing milestone: The U.S. population has doubled in the lifetime of all of us 50 years old or older. One hundred million people have been added just since 1967 - and another 100 million will be added by 2040. Our nation's population growth rate is the highest among industrial nations; many other countries are seeing population declines.

Americans aren't scared by the growth. In a survey this summer, half of Americans said they lived in a town that had grown - though only a quarter said growth was a problem.

One would guess local residents are similarly resolute. With a current population of 271,000, the Leon County population grows only 2 to 3 percent a year. We complain a lot about growth, but nobody seems to move away.

Of course, not all Americans have an appreciation for numbers: That poll this summer found that only 12 percent of Americans could come within 50 million people of correctly guessing the U.S. population. An astounding 19 percent thought our population was one billion or more.

What is scary about growth to some has been immigration. Immigrants, legal and illegal, account for 53 percent of the growth in the U.S. Our population would be only 250 million without that flood tide.

There can be legitimate concerns about immigration when it accounts for more than half of an explosive population increase. Traditionally, growth has been a staple of American progress: More people means more consumers means more goods means more jobs. But increasingly, growth also means problems. All our nation's struggles to provide clean air and water, secure sufficient energy, meet transportation demands and protect a fragile environment are exacerbated by a growing population.

So discussions about immigration have to be part of the discussion about handling our growing population. Unfortunately, those discussions so far seem mostly about racial and ethnic prejudice - particularly against Hispanics.

Fueled by a 1965 law that increased immigration quotas as part of a broadening civil rights movement, the majority of our immigrants now come from Latin America. Hispanics make up 15 percent of the U.S. population - triple their percentage 30 years ago - and some estimates say Hispanics will account for 25 percent of the U.S. population by 2050.

Though Florida has one of the nation's highest Hispanic populations, 18.5 percent, Leon County has only a 3.5 percent Hispanic population. Neighboring Gadsden County has the largest Hispanic population in the Big Bend at nearly 7 percent.

Reaction to the growth in the country's Hispanic population has been unfriendly. The federal government talks of installing cameras, flying drones and a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border. There has been a crackdown on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. There is a small-minded insistence by some Americans to have "English only" spoken in our public agencies and schools.

It's an overwrought - if all too familiar - reaction to those simply chasing the American dream. For all our talk about being a melting pot, this nation has spent much of its history trying to prevent immigration. In the 19th century, we tried to keep out the Germans and Irish. At the turn of the 20th century, we banned Chinese, Japanese and Indian immigrants. In the 1920s, we shut the door to those from Eastern and Southern Europe, particularly Catholics and Jews.

Always, the critics complained that certain ethnic groups, races and religions were a threat to our "American culture." Even that champion of American broad-mindedness, Benjamin Franklin, complained in the late 1700s that German immigrants were coming in such numbers that they were going to make us all speak German.

"There have always been groups who look at migrants and say we can't accept those people because they won't be a part of the country," said Florida State University history professor Suzanne Sinke, who specializes in immigration history. "There is a saying that 'riff-raff' is the people who come after you."

Yet all of those once-shunned groups eventually came, assimilated into our culture and made us a more diverse, stronger country. It is laughable to imagine their not being part of America now, just as someday it will be laughable to imagine the U.S. without its Hispanic population.

"There has always been a significant degree of animosity against people who were later accepted. (Assimilation) is one of our strengths," Sinke said. "I don't see enough differences in what is going on today to warrant the belief this (wave of immigration) would be any different."

Contact reporter Gerald Ensley at (850) 599-2310 or gensley@tallahassee.com.


http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 010/NEWS01

Americans aren't scared by the growth. In a survey this summer, half of Americans said they lived in a town that had grown - though only a quarter said growth was a problem.

Well.....I for one live in an area that was a mere dot on the map 20 yrs ago and now closing in as the 2nd or 3rd city in Ill. with the highest population and we all know Chicago is #1 here. There'was 1 highschool and 3 grade schools. We're working on 4 highschools, 15 elementary and I'm not sure how many middle schools. And those are overcrowded and more are being planned. Which is just the school district and not the city. God only knows how many districts there are. They must not have interviewed anyone here but then again....maybe they're still stuck in traffic. All the population growth here has turned this place into a nightmare. Chicago used to be considered a big city way over there...and this was a town in farm country......now we're just a continuation of a massive concrete jungle on the way to Lake Michigan.

We're still No. 3!

So let's celebrate. And be nicer.

After all, we are all going to be one big happy North American Union.

There is a small-minded insistence by some Americans to have "English only" spoken in our public agencies and schools.

Can you imagine the nerve of some Americans!! I guess he prefers "The Tower of Babel"

We're still No. 3!

Well.......you know those Americans......they always have to be #1.

The borders are open....the businesses are leaving......the process has begun.......so let the competition begin.

What really angers me is that all of the countries south of the border have their "official language"--Spanish, except for Brazil and there the official language is Portuguese. Why is it ok for those countries to have their official language, and "small minded" for the US to have English as its official language? People need to start asking this question publicly, especially to their representatives. This erosion of our language and culture has got to stop. We have every right to our language as other countries have to theirs.

Back in the sixties they insisted our children were unwanted because the population was growing to fast.

Can you imagine how some of us feel hearing things like this?

I mean in the apocalyptic sense.

What really angers me is that all of the countries south of the border have their "official language"--Spanish, except for Brazil and there the official language is Portuguese. Why is it ok for those countries to have their official language, and "small minded" for the US to have English as its official language? People need to start asking this question publicly, especially to their representatives. This erosion of our language and culture has got to stop. We have every right to our language as other countries have to theirs.

I went to some other sights and it's not politicians but this was the reason that was given. How can you call yourself Americans when there's South America, Central America and North America....they are all Americans too. And the majority of the people in the America's speak Spanish and you are going to learn it.


Oh there is such HATRED like I have never known and it's WHITE Americans and the English language that it's directed to. Guess the rest of the Americans are safe from their wrath. It's truely frightening.

stokeybob wrote:

Back in the sixties they insisted our children were unwanted because the population was growing to fast.

You're absolutely right. The American people actually answered the call of their federal government and eventually limited the birth rate to replacement levels. Now for the sole purpose of greed through population growth, our government is operating under a forced population growth concept. The tool being utilized for this is increased immigration. Unfortunately, we currently live with a government that thinks growth in population also means growth of the economy, which is all they are interested in. It's all about quanity, not quality.

We should be reducing immigration, all immigration, not increasing it. With increased population growth comes less water, worse water quality, less wildlife, less outdoor sports opportunities, fewer wilderness areas, worse air quality, less farmland - hence less food, more environmental hazards (air/soil/water toxins). With more environmental hazards comes a reducation in food and water quality. Also, let's not forget, increased population means increased energy usage. To supply the household energy needs, the U.S. government is currently pushing for an expansion of nuclear power. You ever wondered how many thousands of years spent fuel rods remain toxic? These spent fuel rods have to be stored somehwere. What about the garbage we produce, exactly how many acres of our wilderness or farmland will be necessary in the years to come for landfills?

Is it really fair to burden the generations to come with an overpopulated country? Honestly, I think 300 million is enough, our government should immediately start thinking about stabilizing the U.S. population, not growing it! Of course if the globalist get their way, this is all a mute point, because they don't plan on us being a self-supporting country anyway.

You know, there was a time when this great country of ours was pretty much self-sustaining, but it is becoming less and less that way and we're losing our independence. We used to be a country that, for the most part, manufactured our own goods and grew our own food, but that time is quickly passing into history as we're becoming more dependent on other countries to supply many of our needs and wants. Anyone checked our import vice export ratio lately?

If we are going to celebrate the positive aspects of immigration or illegal immigration, just say it don't deny it, we must then address the negative side of illegal immigration such as 28.000 American lives lost in 3 short years, at the hands of illegal immigrants who should have been here in the first place, since 2003, and mourn with these families left to grieve the loss of their loved ones.! We do want to be fair and balanced about this don't we?

crazybird, I've heard that argument too. To me it is just pure propaganda they are using to try to justify that which can not be justified.

What I would say is that I don't care what they call themselves or what they want to call us. I call us Americans and I will tell them when you are in America, YOU SPEAK ENGLISH. And make no apologies, don't get into any ridiculous abstract debates about how many people in S. America vs. N. America, etc. That is what needs to start being done. But, first, we've got to get over this reluctance to stand up for our language and culture. These other countries have no problem being proud of their language and their cultures and traditions. It seems like only we are the one who have to pander to everyone else. I am good and fed up with it.

If it didn't matter whether or not we made English the official language, why would certain groups be fighting so hard against it? Why would certain politicians be pandering to the ethnic lobbies? If you moved to Japan or India, would you object to their making Japanese or Hindi the official language of their country? No. Why? Because you don't have an agenda. I believe they have a conscious agenda to usurp our culture and our language and they are doing it with the help of our cowardly politicians and big business. The only thing left is for the American people to start raising heck about it and demand that this nonsense STOP! And like I said, make no apologies about it.