Posts Tagged ‘immigration’

What is the American Dream again?

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

I’ve been light on my blog posts lately, been busy and am recovering from a gut-wrenching time, although I won’t detail that here (and please don’t ask), but suffice to say I’ve been thinking a lot. A lot. One of the things I have asked myself: What is the American Dream again?

In its essence, The American Dream refers to the opportunity for achieving greater material prosperity and a decent standard of living based on one’s ability and work ethic, as well as the hope that one’s children will receive a good education so they, too, can aspire to a good job and standard of living. The term was coined by historian James Truslow Adams, when he wrote:

“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.“

Ahh .. the essence of meritocracy — something my mentor Anita believes in (herself an immigrant), something I believe in (myself an immigrant).

I found that from Irving Wladawsky-Berger’s blog this morning, as I was catching up on my RSS feeds. Read his full post for his thoughts on the knowledge economy, and how the US really needs to innovate to remain ahead — or slip behind others, as we watch the US presidential election slowly degenerate into a culture war.

Meritocracy is a system of a government or another organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and ability (merit), rather than by wealth (plutocracy), family connections (nepotism), class privilege (oligarchy), cronyism, the will of the people (as in democracy) or other historical determinants of social position and political power. In a meritocracy, society rewards (by wealth, position, and social status) those who demonstrated talent and competence, demonstrated through past actions or by competition.

Although lately, I’m starting to wonder if the American Dream still is .. in America? In light of all the anti-immigrant protests (whether outright or underhanded), both Republican and Democratic candidates essentially shying away from the thorny issue of immigration, I really question America’s ability to (a) attract and, (b) retain foreign talent.

For the uninitiated, the contribution of foreign talent to America is well documented (and well quantified, if you want hard stats).

And now, contrast all of the above with all the anti-immigration debates, and headlines like, “U.S. immigration policy discourages foreign-born entrepreneurs” and “U.S. Immigration Policy Hinders Entrepreneurship”

Irving writes, “A recurrent message in my blog has been the critical importance of human capital – that is, the stock of skills and knowledge that enables individuals to produce economic value.  Talented, well educated individuals are more needed than ever in our global, highly competitive, knowledge economy.  Countries and regions endowed with that kind of human capital will be in a much better position to cope with, adjust to and thrive in our fast-changing, emergent world.”

Why is America making it so hard for immigrants? Is it still worth it for immigrants? Has America forgot what it means to be American?

Other points of interest, from Wikipedia:

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