Europeans in America.......

It's very heart-warming to see FIFA fans from so many countries falling in love with America! From our large EVERYTHING (states, stadiums, serving sizes, drink sizes) to the amazing food to how much Americans LOVE our country. I didn't know the British doesn't enjoy Air Conditioning like we do, that was a surprise!!

My youngest daughter keeps sending me videos of them....from the Italian guy discovering he gets free refills at a restaurant (so is drinking as fast as he can to get the next free refill) to the British couple having their first meal from Chik-Fil-A to the German couple tasting American BBQ (and the lady saying "I'm never going home" after a bite of brisquit.) And who can forget how LOUD they sing with us when they join in singing our National Anthem??? Their patriotism for America almost puts us to shame!! (Opens our eyes to the greatness this place, doesn't it?)

Just something every US Military who's been overseas already knows....this is the GREATEST Nation in the history of the world....God Bless our Freedoms and Liberties and the American way of life!

I've been to 18 countries outside of the USA during my 23-years of service to this great Nation and, sure, some other countries have some pretty neat things BUT I'm always homesick in a short time and count the days until I can deploy back to the greatest place I'd rather be.

 

why wouldn't they be, they're the only ones welcome these days

 

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I'm not at all arguing with any of the points about how wonderful our country is.

I've been a lot of places. I've NEVER seen the income inequity that we have here, the massive divide between the rich and the poor. Ive never seen governments so criminally corrupt, and grifting as ours. It's gotta suck living in any country with FREE education. It's gotta really suck to high heaven living in a country with UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE.

 

Loved serving, knowing that it were to a then-concurrent US in a then-halcyon era, I could be somewhat proud of (served from late '80s into '90s). Instilled a great amt of perspective about self-potential, discipline, and collective / comm'y mindset sorely lacking in many places lived w\ garbage people in authority, in civvie life. But that's any comm'y, any society, free or not. And the US Army unfort was not a place I wanted to spend time in service until retirement (though in hindsight, getting a lifer check in the mail after only 16y, might've been worth it).

Do love the institutions this country created in past generations, who appreciated more the meaning and gravity of being free, thru not having life spoon-fed them with frivolous distractions, as much as now.

Don't love the direction this country's tacking to, nor the legacies it's creating for future generations.

Hate having to reminisce about how good things were, or seeing current generations rediscovering things vicariously and degrees-removed thru a screen, when they could be actively recreating / preserving that world of their own efforts.

Am sure the best of them may be trying to do just that, no generation's entirely its bad apples... but given no one of a current generation can truly grasp thru living it, the shortcomings and suffering -- thus perspective -- their forebears spare them... can't imagine the majority of this current generation of adults will choose such of their own free will -- and nature always favours the will of the majority. More bad apples, the faster the whole bushel rots.

Sorry for such a Danny-downer outlook on where this country is now. But more than anything, feel our leadership -- in the eyes of the world and esp our long-term allies -- is far from worthy of its 250th year of existence, asking Founding Fathers and all prior leadership to judge us on how we've done. And nausea is the overwhelming sensation, seeing where that 'leadership' is burning bridges it fully intends never to pay for or repair -- leaving the rest of us with the debris field, including their own acolytes... the MO of all entitled grifters

 

Yep. I have a friend who's a Mexican citizen who had a US tourist visa for 10 years and followed the law to a tee, always coming up here for a couple of weeks a year, turning her permit well ahead of time in person at US customs as she left the country, never used her presence to work or get any benefits or anything else that would be illegal. She just came and visited and spent her hard-earned money from her job in Mexico up here in the USA.

Since then she even settled down, got married, and they got a house of their own down in Mexico, both of them working down in Mexico like any normal couple.

Recently she went to renew her visa. They denied her saying she didn't provide enough evidence that she wasn't going to use it to illegally move to and work in the USA. And she's just one of several people I've known from Mexico who had been treated this way.

 

Sorry to hear that, Isaac. My daughter was a public school teacher this year and had a few families from Mexico and Honduras with kids in her class and, since they were here illegally, decided to accept the governments offer for a free trip home so they can apply to return legally. I really like that idea, as the grandson of an immigrant from Canada.

 

I think you make a good point.

most Americans support immigration and are solidly behind supporting immigrants that do it legally.

..maybe the real conversation is ... how can we make it quicker to allow good people and citizens to enter our country legally and properly vetted and integrate them into the fabric of our society ... they want to be here and we need them to strengthen our country...

the problem isn't really legal immigration - the problem is illegal immigration that affects our citizens safety, our national security and stresses our social safety net...

legal immigration and illegal immigration are two very different circumstances.. and have very different effects on society