Building a Strong America

by Jack

As we approach the 4th of July it’s important to take stock of where we once were and what we’ve become. We began as a nation of immigrants and we grew and thrived as a nation of immigrants. We have added many, many new immigrants with every passing year since our beginning. First they arrived by the hundreds and then by the thousands, and soon by the tens of thousands. They were were pouring in every year from all corners of the world to fill a great need. America grew rich with these pioneers with inspired ideas. We soon led the world in virtually everything, thanks to an abundance of inventors, scientists, industrialists, doctors, farmers, explorers, writers, artists and entrepreneurs.

The list of famous immigrants is too long to publish here, but among those who come to mind now are celebrities like Michael J Fox-Canada, Anthony Hopkins-England, Gene Simmons-Israel, Colin Farrell-Ireland. Salma Hayek-Mexico, Charlize Theron- South Africa, Jackie Chan-Hong Kong, Anna Kournikova- Moscow, Russia, Naomi Campbell-England.

Then there is Madeleine Albright-Czech Republic, Henry Kissinger, our former US Secretary of State, he was born in Germany. Jerry Yang co-creator of Yahoo, Rep. Tom Lantos was from Hungary, Albert Einstein Ulm, Germany. The world famous naturalist John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland before moving to Wisconsin. Joseph Pulitzer, the son of a Jewish father and Catholic mother was born in Hungary. Admiral Rickover was born in Makow, Russia (now Poland). He immigrated to Illinois and later entered the US Naval Academy. He invented the first nuclear powered submarine.

The dream is still alive. If you come here to work, you will have more opportunities to succeed and thrive than anywhere else.

We are not restrained by the whims of a dictator or the dogma of a state religion. In America women can travel from city to city without an escort, people of color are equals. It’s not a crime to be gay as it is Iran or Egypt. You can even get rich criticizing the government, just ask Arianna Huffington, but don’t try that in China or Saudi Arabia. We all have inalienable rights without regard to race, color or creed and this is our inheritance as Americans.

Sometimes after many generations of living the dream we might take for granted some of our freedoms. But, the new immigrants thankful to escape oppression know and appreciate the vast freedom that exists here. They serve to remind us what we have and what we need to protect and what isn’t good for America. Illegal aliens here to make a buck and use our safety nets, indifferent or oblivious to our heritage, well, that doesn’t cut it. Those who come here to stay must be Americans first, supporting and cheering for America and pitching in to protect what we have achieved. .

So, on this 4th of July let’s take a moment to think about our freedoms and the millions of immigrants that came here before us that contributed their labor, their ideas and in some cases their lives, to make us what we are today. They believed in one language, one culture and they assimilated because they understood and loved what America was all about. The idea of the great melting pot has become the hallmark of our success! As we look back at our history our remarkable achievements was due only partly to our diversity – it was really our diversity [united] behind a shared belief in an ideology that embraced , inalienable rights, equality, justice and freedom. United we stand.