A right wing question I have a hard time countering

[Toots]

"If the USA is so universally despised why are thousand/millions of people from around the world doing everything within their power to come across our borders?" I have no answer to that except maybe the lure of money.

[blm]

1. They don't despise America - they despise the Bush government.

.

[Tarc]

12. Exactly

This is precisely the retort that should be given to such a question. America is still a land of freedom and opportunity, despite the best efforts of Dubya and crew to destroy it.

[tanyev]

2. I'd have to google to confirm this, but I think the numbers of legal

immigrants have declined drastically.

[Solo_in_MD]

3. They despise the polices of the Government

Not Americans or the nation as a whole

[Tsiyu]

4. Why do poeple get up every morning and go to jobs they hate?

Under bosses they despise?

Gee, they like to eat.



That would be my response....

And I would add that Right Wing American corporations are not penalized for paying them substandard wages. The evil bastards lure them in and take no responsibility for the outcome of their practices.

[JuniperLea]

5. As bad as it is here

It's still better than a lot of places... for now... but we are on a slippery slope. I sincerely hope the anti-American folk are really just anti-BushCo and realize that most Americans are very good people.

[robbibaba]

10. Are most Americans really good people?

I have my doubts. I guess it depends on how you define "really good". I hate to say it but "really comfortable" or "really apathetic, bloated, lazy, gutless, ignorant and hateful" seems more on target for vast segments of our populace.

[JuniperLea]

22. The loud mouths among us are as you describe

No doubt. That makes their group louder and more noticeable, but not bigger. IMHO, your description does fit the 29%, or the backwash:)

[Joanne98]

6. Because US policy keeps poor countries from developing.

Tell them to read, "Confessions of an Economic Hitman". We keep the rest of the world so poor, they have no choice but to come here.
According to John Perkins, leaders of third world countries who help their poor people will be assassinated. It's been US policy for over 50 years.

[Dems Will Win]

14. This is the real answer

Stop the illegal immigration by developing southern and central Mexico. Lot cheaper than education, welfare, etc. costs here!

[Joanne98]

18. Hi! Dems Will Win. Long time no see.

[Democrat 4 Ever]

7. One answer - the poor and downtrodden are beating a path to our

door because what they have left behind is terrible. But the well off, educated, successful people aren't hopping fences to get here anymore. There are so many more countries that are more progressive, enlightened, and supportive of a good quality of life for ALL citizens (not just a selective few) why would they want to come here? The ones who could really attribute to our society (except for the ones the repugs like to use for slave labor) are going elsewhere to build a life. We are no longer the beacon of liberty, streets paved with gold, etc. We are just another third world dictatorship under Bush and what is so attractive about that? It is just a matter of degrees of what you are leaving behind in the hopes of a better future that determines who is trying to get in - and who is staying away.

[baldguy]

8. Its not that America under the Bush Regime is bad

Its that a Free America without Bush would be SO MUCH BETTER - for America & the world.

[greendog]

9. The vast majority of the worlds people AREN'T trying...

...to move to the USA. The assertion that EVERYONE wants to move to America and join the Republican Party is right wing bullshit.

Make 'em prove it isn't.

[progdonkey]

17. the argument's lost before it begins...

You're totally correct: he's letting them win the argument at the outset by accepting that their claim is itself factual. The claim is itself a lie, as you said: the world's people aren't trying to come here. Yes, a lot of Mexicans because, no matter how bad it gets here, as long as someone feels they have a better shot at getting a job and being able to survive in the US than in Mexico, he'll cross the border. Furthermore, if Mexico bordered Canada instead of the US, they'd be immigrated into Canada--they're only concern is that they're going to someplace better than where they are.

The actual number of immigrants has been going down drastically, if I'm not mistaken. I do know for a fact, though, that universities are having a harder time getting foreign students (they still get a huge amount, of course, but not what it used to be) due in small part to dislike of the US, but in large part due to the increased massive hurdles that prospective students must jump in order to get into the country, and fewer are believing it's worth it (which itself, while perhaps not indicating true dislike of the US, at least indicates that there's a limit to the appeal the US has for those students).

The argument from the RWers is nothing more than "If we're so hated, why are we so loved?" The question assumes that we are loved and deals only with "why" we are, so by even answering the question, you are accepting the RWer's claim that we are universally loved, which means you've already let the RWer win.

[MissWaverly]

11. even after Tinnamon Square, we still bought Chinese goods

Cuba is not Iowa -- don't get me wrong -- but it's not to be confused with China, where torture is regularly employed; 10,000 prisoners killed last year; organ transplants for sale around the word. I mean, it's really -- it's a repressive place.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/textonly/focus2.html

What I am saying is that most Americans would not support the policies of the Chinese government
in suppresing dissidents but we support them economically by buying their goods.

You can not use the immigrants who are trying to get their little share of our prosperity
to justify the policies of the Bush Administration.

[Finder]

13. Because we are a rich nation...

and even a minimum wage job in the US pays more than some countries for college educated citizens. Also, many of these people are obsessed with our culture as portrayed by Hollywood.

I actually asked a few people. They don't like Bush nor do they agree with our foreign policy but still want to come. The average pay in their current countries is under USD$1000.00 a month for the college educated. They also like the diversity of our culture. On the party issue...I doubt they would vote GOP or even vote at all. Many feel they are forced to vote in their current country(or be fined)and would like the freedom not to vote.(which I cannot grasp)

[EST]

15. Not "everyone!"

It is only the desperately poor or socially ostracized who try to come here illegally. Our universities are still pretty good, although that is a diminishing prospect. The US is devolving to look like the countries they come from, with a "master" caste and the rest of the peon untouchables.
Here, if one comes for an education, the chances to become one of the moneyed gentry are still pretty good, with government handouts to the specialties they think we need.
Those of power, position, or wealth have no interest in permanently immigrating to the US unless there are highly extenuating circumstances, like your brother trying to assassinate you, that drives them to get outta town.

This is a highly simplistic description, but not nearly as simplistic as your friend's mis-estimation of the overall situation.

[iamahaingttta]

16. Not EVERYTHING about the right-wing is fucked up!!!

I can't think of any good examples, though...

[Jade Fox]

19. Glad you asked.....

Because materially, we have the best way of life available.

But many immigrants who come to the US, after the sense of being let loose in a candy store wears off, find themselves missing some of the non-material things they had in abundance in their own countries: strong community and cultural ties, tight extended family groupings, and a way of life that values and incorporates more than just consumerism.

I work with a lot of immigrants. Trust me: most of them would rather be home. They have come here to give their children advantages that don't exist in their native lands, plain and simple.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. Very few immigrants come from developed countries anymore

Compare the number of Brits, Scandinavians, Germans, French people, etc. who leave their comfortable countries and come here to the number of Mexicans, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Africans who come here to flee abject poverty.

Most of the Europeans I know who live over here came for a specific job or because they married an American. I've never yet met a European who came here because life was so unbearable in Europe--at least not since the early postwar years. Many of them wish they could find a job back home and want to retire there.

Even back in 1967, people we met in England were not talking about emigrating to the U.S. if they were dissatisfied with life in the U.K. They talked about moving to Canada or Australia. (They thought America was too violent.)

But listen to immigrants from Mexico, the Philippines, Liberia, Somalia, Cambodia, El Salvador, Haiti, or any other place where life is miserable for the masses, and not only do they never want to go back, they want to bring their relatives over.

[riona]

21. I would like to see a

breakdown of countries whose people are doing everything in their power to get here.