Saturday, May 27, 2006
When Maria was Bridget
If your ancestors were Irish and immigrated to the USA, Canada or Australia in the 19th century, you may think that because millions of immigrants were absorbed before (about 15% of the US population was foreign born in the early 20th century), why should it be any different now with illegal workers from Mexico who will get amnesty (displacing those who have been waiting on the legal quotas) and bring into legal residency their entire families, including parents and adult children?
Maybe you wear the green on St. Paddy's day and know a few drinking songs and are still Catholic. Wasn't the Irish Exodus a good thing? My ancestors were Scots-Irish too, but came a century or two earlier, also hating their British rulers and wanting a few economic perks. They settled first in Pennsylvania, then moved on down to the Appalachian Mountains after fighting in the Revolution, saying good-bye again a century later as family members moved on west to Missouri, Texas and California. Some (mine) even to Illinois. My ancestors who weren't Irish were Swiss and German, coming for religious freedom--not even being allowed to own land in the little Germanic prince-states they fled.
The potato revolutionized Ireland. Under the thumb of Britain, it was the poorest country in Europe. Within about 250 years after its introduction, Ireland's population almost tripled. But monocrops are not a good long term investment on which to build an economy, and when the blight came, the Irish began to starve. The British took their land and their lives, and waved good-bye as the poor and landless emigrated. Imagine the disruption, grief and death this caused. Just because the end result was various Irish power brokers and a Ted Kennedy or three in Congress, doesn't mean these folks didn't suffer. And then after WWI and WWII, more millions fled the death, distruction and disaster of the collapsing European and Balkan states.
Why does our US government continue to prop up the Mexican government which is corrupt and built on drug money and the billions of their "servant dollars" sent home from cleaning hotel rooms in California and roofing buildings in Ohio? Drugs are just the monocrop ready for a blight. Just because we had an open arms system in the 19th century where we winked at the corruption and power grabs of the kings, dictators, and prime ministers of countries that scuttled their own citizens, why do we have to continue that painful process? If it works out over 150 years, does it mean those victims didn't suffer?
We have a current quota of 950,000 immigrants a year. This is world wide. It doesn't welcome one group and fight off others with a stick--at least not in the law, but that's what is happening. The guest worker program will begin with 325,000 in 2007, and grow 10% a year through 2026, and they can each bring along their spouses, children, siblings, adult children, and parents. Those are people who can be "guests" for 6 years, and apply for legal residency in 4 years. Meanwhile, how many children have been born to that group who will never go back to Mexico? And who would go back if American schools and benefits beckon? How many are eligible for SS and education and health care? All of them.
If the Irish had had a deal like that in the 1860s and 1870s, there would be no one left there to be enjoying its economic renewal of recent years and there would have been no ethnic battles between the protestants and catholics, because the Irish wouldn't be there. Perhaps Vicente Fox knows more about Irish American history than President Bush, Ted Kennedy and John McCain despite their Irish heritage? Just export his citizens.
U.S. Presidents with Irish ancestry
1 Andrew Jackson, 7th President 1829-37
2 James Knox Polk, 11th President 1845-49
3 James Buchanan, 15th President 1857-61
4 Ulysses S Grant, 18th President 1869-77
5 Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President 1881-85
6 Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President 1885-89, 1893-97
7 William McKinley, 25th President 1897-1901
8 Woodrow Wilson, 28th President 1913-21
9 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President 1961-63
10 Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President 1963-69
11 Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President 1969-74
12 James Earl Carter, 39th President 1977-81
13 Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President 1981-89
14 George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President 1989-93
15 William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President 1993-2001
16 George W Bush, 43rd President 2001-
Maybe you wear the green on St. Paddy's day and know a few drinking songs and are still Catholic. Wasn't the Irish Exodus a good thing? My ancestors were Scots-Irish too, but came a century or two earlier, also hating their British rulers and wanting a few economic perks. They settled first in Pennsylvania, then moved on down to the Appalachian Mountains after fighting in the Revolution, saying good-bye again a century later as family members moved on west to Missouri, Texas and California. Some (mine) even to Illinois. My ancestors who weren't Irish were Swiss and German, coming for religious freedom--not even being allowed to own land in the little Germanic prince-states they fled.
The potato revolutionized Ireland. Under the thumb of Britain, it was the poorest country in Europe. Within about 250 years after its introduction, Ireland's population almost tripled. But monocrops are not a good long term investment on which to build an economy, and when the blight came, the Irish began to starve. The British took their land and their lives, and waved good-bye as the poor and landless emigrated. Imagine the disruption, grief and death this caused. Just because the end result was various Irish power brokers and a Ted Kennedy or three in Congress, doesn't mean these folks didn't suffer. And then after WWI and WWII, more millions fled the death, distruction and disaster of the collapsing European and Balkan states.
Why does our US government continue to prop up the Mexican government which is corrupt and built on drug money and the billions of their "servant dollars" sent home from cleaning hotel rooms in California and roofing buildings in Ohio? Drugs are just the monocrop ready for a blight. Just because we had an open arms system in the 19th century where we winked at the corruption and power grabs of the kings, dictators, and prime ministers of countries that scuttled their own citizens, why do we have to continue that painful process? If it works out over 150 years, does it mean those victims didn't suffer?
We have a current quota of 950,000 immigrants a year. This is world wide. It doesn't welcome one group and fight off others with a stick--at least not in the law, but that's what is happening. The guest worker program will begin with 325,000 in 2007, and grow 10% a year through 2026, and they can each bring along their spouses, children, siblings, adult children, and parents. Those are people who can be "guests" for 6 years, and apply for legal residency in 4 years. Meanwhile, how many children have been born to that group who will never go back to Mexico? And who would go back if American schools and benefits beckon? How many are eligible for SS and education and health care? All of them.
If the Irish had had a deal like that in the 1860s and 1870s, there would be no one left there to be enjoying its economic renewal of recent years and there would have been no ethnic battles between the protestants and catholics, because the Irish wouldn't be there. Perhaps Vicente Fox knows more about Irish American history than President Bush, Ted Kennedy and John McCain despite their Irish heritage? Just export his citizens.
U.S. Presidents with Irish ancestry
1 Andrew Jackson, 7th President 1829-37
2 James Knox Polk, 11th President 1845-49
3 James Buchanan, 15th President 1857-61
4 Ulysses S Grant, 18th President 1869-77
5 Chester Alan Arthur, 21st President 1881-85
6 Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President 1885-89, 1893-97
7 William McKinley, 25th President 1897-1901
8 Woodrow Wilson, 28th President 1913-21
9 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President 1961-63
10 Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President 1963-69
11 Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th President 1969-74
12 James Earl Carter, 39th President 1977-81
13 Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President 1981-89
14 George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President 1989-93
15 William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd President 1993-2001
16 George W Bush, 43rd President 2001-
# posted by Norma : 5/27/2006 09:40:00 AM
