This, I believe, is one of the most important sources of America’s greatness. We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nations. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever close the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.
It certainly wasn’t Donald Trump, we know that. But it also wasn’t JFK or LBJ or FDR or even Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. That was Ronald Reagan and such rhetoric used to be an anodyne sentiment among politicians of all stripes in the late 20th century. Those times are over, of course, and we’ve gone back to the bad old days of the early 20th century when we blocked “undesirable” immigrants from poisoning the blood of our country for decades. You know, when America was great.
Reagan was right. America has benefited tremendously from its historical welcome of immigrants and it uniquely prepared us for the challenges of the 21 century. Unfortunately, we seem to have decided to retreat into xenophobic fascism. It’s one of the stupidest moves we’ve ever made.