John, Nice jingoism. I don't think the British were lining up, nor were the French, or the Swiss or the Dutch or the Danes. People in poor countries were dying to get into the US, but they also wanted into Canada, England, Holland, Switzerland, Australia, etc. Our corporate masters wanted dirt cheap labor, so we were more open about admitting immigrants. Then they got over here and had a chance to work for slave wages and shop at the company store. Fortunately they formed trade unions and voted and paid taxes to support education and things did get much better. And, of course, they learned how to vote for liberals, which improved things greatly. <g>
Just because life was Hell in poor countries does not mean it was a day at the beach here. Folks would not have embraced change so eagerly had the old ways been good. And we had a couple of generations of our foremost intellectuals who did become expatriates, from the Moving Feast of Paris to the expat community in London. Many who had the money to leave left. The braver ones stayed and fought to improve the nation. |
