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America already has an easy, useful, and generally positive solution to a decline in birthrates: immigration. We'll just need to move beyond the current xenoph

America already has an easy, useful, and generally positive solution to a decline in birthrates: immigration. We'll just need to move beyond the current xenophobia and remember what we use to know.

Analemma_ 6y ago
I mean, I agree, but "just" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. I've had to accept that there's a finite amount of immigration that societies will take before you get a nativist backlash, and that amount appears to be much lower than the amount you need to sustain a healthy demographic pyramid. All the Vox articles in the world about how immigration is a net economic positive don't seem to have made a difference. I don't like it, but you have to work with the political situation you have, not the one you wish you had.
cmxch 6y ago
Then fix the issue of what to do with the displaced (in a way that doesn't presume fault with said displaced persons). Writing people off as this or that is not the answer.
jimbob45 6y ago
Why would the immigrants have any allegiance to the US? If you try to force more immigrants in than can be properly vetted for assimilation, then you're going to get Sharia Law slums and the Irish/Russian/Italian mafia all over again. Should we incentivize our own population to breed or ship in foreigners wholesale? Seems like self-subversion to opt for the latter.
- josephorjoe 6y ago
  You may not know this, but the native american population in the US is <2% of the total population. If you are part of that <2%, I understand your bitterness. The other 98% of americans are immigrants or the children/grandchildren/great grandchildren/etc. of immigrants. Some of my ancestors immigrated from Ireland and Italy to the US, but despite that, I've decided to work in software engineering instead of the mafia.
  - jimbob45 6y ago
    You're wrong. The US isn't an ethnostate. It's a group of individuals who believe in a core set of values and ideals. Letting too many in risks letting in those who have no affinity to the US Constitution. It has nothing to do with genetic heritage.
    - josephorjoe 6y ago
      Empirically, I'm not wrong. 98% of the population are immigrants or the descendents of immigrants. The people who wrote the US Constitution were immigrants or the descendents of immigrants. All the presidents, including the current one, have been the descendents of immigrants. The US Constitution has survived this reality for 200+ years. I realize some people, like my aunt (whose grandfather was an italian immigrant), want to pretend there is a difference between immigrants coming to america today and those who came 50, 100, 200, 300 years ago. But the difference is primarily in her mind, and now she treats new immigrants the way her grandfather was treated by people who decided italians should not be welcome in america. It seems to be a constant tension here that I don't expect to every really go away. I'm sure in countries without immigration people find other things to use to classify each other into groups that are convenient to dislike and scapegoat.

America already has an easy, useful, and generally positive solution to a decline in birthrates: immigration. We'll just need to move beyond the current xenophobia and remember what we use to know.

Analemma_ 6y ago

I mean, I agree, but "just" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. I've had to accept that there's a finite amount of immigration that societies will take before you get a nativist backlash, and that amount appears to be much lower than the amount you need to sustain a healthy demographic pyramid. All the Vox articles in the world about how immigration is a net economic positive don't seem to have made a difference. I don't like it, but you have to work with the political situation you have, not the one you wish you had.

cmxch 6y ago

Then fix the issue of what to do with the displaced (in a way that doesn't presume fault with said displaced persons). Writing people off as this or that is not the answer.

jimbob45 6y ago

Why would the immigrants have any allegiance to the US? If you try to force more immigrants in than can be properly vetted for assimilation, then you're going to get Sharia Law slums and the Irish/Russian/Italian mafia all over again. Should we incentivize our own population to breed or ship in foreigners wholesale? Seems like self-subversion to opt for the latter.

josephorjoe 6y ago
You may not know this, but the native american population in the US is <2% of the total population. If you are part of that <2%, I understand your bitterness. The other 98% of americans are immigrants or the children/grandchildren/great grandchildren/etc. of immigrants. Some of my ancestors immigrated from Ireland and Italy to the US, but despite that, I've decided to work in software engineering instead of the mafia.
- jimbob45 6y ago
  You're wrong. The US isn't an ethnostate. It's a group of individuals who believe in a core set of values and ideals. Letting too many in risks letting in those who have no affinity to the US Constitution. It has nothing to do with genetic heritage.
  - josephorjoe 6y ago
    Empirically, I'm not wrong. 98% of the population are immigrants or the descendents of immigrants. The people who wrote the US Constitution were immigrants or the descendents of immigrants. All the presidents, including the current one, have been the descendents of immigrants. The US Constitution has survived this reality for 200+ years. I realize some people, like my aunt (whose grandfather was an italian immigrant), want to pretend there is a difference between immigrants coming to america today and those who came 50, 100, 200, 300 years ago. But the difference is primarily in her mind, and now she treats new immigrants the way her grandfather was treated by people who decided italians should not be welcome in america. It seems to be a constant tension here that I don't expect to every really go away. I'm sure in countries without immigration people find other things to use to classify each other into groups that are convenient to dislike and scapegoat.