I'll add my two cents. Every citizen of this country either came here from somewhere else, or his or her forebears did. That includes the "Native American" population (I have a smattering of Cherokee in my heritage), the "Native Americans" originally imigrated to this continent from north eastern Asia. All the rest of us came from somwhere else on the globe, sooner , later, our forebears came here with the hopes of establishing a new life and escaping or leaving some form of oppresion, religious, political, cultural, economic, etc.
The one thing that all our forebears had in common was the desire to found or participate in a country of their own. One that they established a democratic form of govenment and judicial process for. My German, Scottish and English forbears did not come to this country to live as Germans, Scotts, Englishmen, but as Americans.
Honoring one's forebears, one's cultural heritage is a wonderful and respected tradition in the US. The diversity of our population is what has made this country the success that it has been. But, honoring one's heritage and attempting to change a nation's culture to fit your cultural heritage are two different things. I have lived in several other countries in my life. While I was there, I respected and lived within their cultural expectations and norms. I did not try to convert the country I was living in to another version of the United States.
I am positively incensed by the expectations of people that immigrate here and expect alll the other citizens of this country to accomodate them by providing interpreters, free benefits payed for with our taxes, etc. I believe this is partially our fault. We have condesended to people that don't want to learn English (no it's not the "offical" language, but it is the one that is overwhelmingly recognized as the common langauge of our country), we hire interepreters in business for them, we provide special educational programs for their children, we post multi language signage everywhere.
I have no issue whatsoever with a person that immigrates here legally and has a desire to contribute to our society. Bottom line, if you want to live, work, raise your family in the US, fine. Come here legally, earn US citizenship, pay taxes, contribute to our society. However, first and foremost you are an American, not a Mexican, not Vietnamese, not Chinese, not Zimbabwean, an AMERCIAN. If this is not fair, doesn't meet your expectations, that's cool too..............LEAVE!
