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> As JD aptly put it, that’s wrong (...) That's a mind-numbing stupid take which is rejected by the faintest cursory ancestry analysis of the US population. Th

> As JD aptly put it, that’s wrong (...) That's a mind-numbing stupid take which is rejected by the faintest cursory ancestry analysis of the US population. The 2020 census alone points out that there is as many german americans as English americans, and I'm not seeing racist anti-immigration rants targeting germans. They are the predominant ethnic group in the Northeast and Midwest regions. If not by immigration then how do you explain their presence? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Americans For a clue, check where Trump's grandfather was from and how he ended up in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Trump The total number of european americans don't even reach 40% of the population, which is nothing new. So if not from immigration then how do you explain that fact?

rayiner 2y ago
There’s many ethnic Germans in America, but there’s almost nothing German in broader American law and civic society. Thats the distinction between the settler population (British people and African slaves, with a relatively small proportion of Dutch, Spanish, and French) and the immigrant population (everyone else). America is a country that happens to have a lot of people of immigrant ancestry. That’s an incidental feature. Because it’s a physically large country that was for a long time relatively unsettled. But that doesn’t define the country. There isn’t anything that commits the country to any particular policy re: immigration. In fact, the massive German, Irish, and Italian immigration of the 19th century led to a decades-long restriction of immigration staring in the 1920s, where the foreign born population dropped from 15% (similar to now) to under 5% by 1970.
- motorest 2y ago
  > There’s many ethnic Germans in America, but there’s almost nothing German in broader American law and civic society. Irrelevant. The disputed fact was that America was not a country of immigrants. The idiotic assertion raised in the parent post is a refresh of the argument that the Mayflower landed settlers and not immigrants, which is nonsense due to the fact that the bulk of the population of the US are undoubtedly immigrants.
  - rayiner 2y ago
    Does that make America “a nation of immigrants?” Is it a defining characteristic or an incidental one? America is also a majority white nation. I wouldn’t say that’s a defining characteristic that should define our future immigration policies.
    - motorest 2y ago
      > Does that make America “a nation of immigrants?” The vast majority of Americans are immigrants. > Is it a defining characteristic or an incidental one? Is this even a question? Again, the vast majority of Americans are immigrants. > I wouldn’t say that’s a defining characteristic that should define our future immigration policies. You can try to move the goalpost as far as you'd like and blow as many ignorant and ill-informed xenophobic dog whistles as you'd care to blow. You cannot outrun the fact that the US is a nation of immigrants.
      - rayiner 2y ago
        I simply read your post to make it make sense. That is, you’re saying “America is a nation of immigrants” to refer to some articulated principle—like free speech or property rights—that should compel the electorate to adhere to some policy going forward. If by “nation of immigrants” you mean merely the fact that most Americans have immigrant ancestry, your original post makes no sense. Why would that incidental fact have any bearing on what America’s immigration policy should be going forward? Mere accidents of history don't compel a democratic republic to maintain any particular course.

rayiner 2y ago

There’s many ethnic Germans in America, but there’s almost nothing German in broader American law and civic society. Thats the distinction between the settler population (British people and African slaves, with a relatively small proportion of Dutch, Spanish, and French) and the immigrant population (everyone else). America is a country that happens to have a lot of people of immigrant ancestry. That’s an incidental feature. Because it’s a physically large country that was for a long time relatively unsettled. But that doesn’t define the country. There isn’t anything that commits the country to any particular policy re: immigration. In fact, the massive German, Irish, and Italian immigration of the 19th century led to a decades-long restriction of immigration staring in the 1920s, where the foreign born population dropped from 15% (similar to now) to under 5% by 1970.

motorest 2y ago
> There’s many ethnic Germans in America, but there’s almost nothing German in broader American law and civic society. Irrelevant. The disputed fact was that America was not a country of immigrants. The idiotic assertion raised in the parent post is a refresh of the argument that the Mayflower landed settlers and not immigrants, which is nonsense due to the fact that the bulk of the population of the US are undoubtedly immigrants.
- rayiner 2y ago
  Does that make America “a nation of immigrants?” Is it a defining characteristic or an incidental one? America is also a majority white nation. I wouldn’t say that’s a defining characteristic that should define our future immigration policies.
  - motorest 2y ago
    > Does that make America “a nation of immigrants?” The vast majority of Americans are immigrants. > Is it a defining characteristic or an incidental one? Is this even a question? Again, the vast majority of Americans are immigrants. > I wouldn’t say that’s a defining characteristic that should define our future immigration policies. You can try to move the goalpost as far as you'd like and blow as many ignorant and ill-informed xenophobic dog whistles as you'd care to blow. You cannot outrun the fact that the US is a nation of immigrants.
    - rayiner 2y ago
      I simply read your post to make it make sense. That is, you’re saying “America is a nation of immigrants” to refer to some articulated principle—like free speech or property rights—that should compel the electorate to adhere to some policy going forward. If by “nation of immigrants” you mean merely the fact that most Americans have immigrant ancestry, your original post makes no sense. Why would that incidental fact have any bearing on what America’s immigration policy should be going forward? Mere accidents of history don't compel a democratic republic to maintain any particular course.