More Misinformation from the Media:
My family’s story wouldn’t be possible without the “diversity lottery” program. . . . The diversity visa program should also be preserved. . . . At a time when groups ranging from state-sponsored media to terrorist organizations denounce the United States as “the Great Satan,” America can’t afford to turn its back on an opportunity to portray itself as an open, tolerant and diverse nation.
Most important, America is obligated to live up to its promise as a shining city on a hill for aspiring immigrants across the world. The country has always served as a place where people were limited only by the bounds of their imaginations or the scope of their dreams. No person has a greater claim to the American dream than any other, and it would be uniquely un-American to systematically exclude the residents of some nations in an immigration system that disproportionately favors those who are related to those already in the United States.
We face a number of complex challenges in both immigration and national security. As we confront them, however, we have to remember that in America, you’re defined less by where you came from and more by where you are going. – We Need the Diversity Visa Lottery, The New York Times, Opinion, Machmud Makhmudov, 11/217 [Link]
Fact Check: This writer’s bias for the diversity visa program is understandable. But his personal interest is no argument that this program helps the national interest. It doesn’t. Each year, 50,000 people win this lottery on the basis of pure luck, with no relation to what talents or abilities they may have to improve our society. In recent years, a high percentage of these visa holders have come from terrorist-sponsoring countries.
The notion that we must allow this flow to continue in order to impress foreigners, including terrorists, is soft-headed absurdity. If anything, it would serve to arouse their contempt toward what they would regard—most rightly so—as weakness of will and intelligence.
The writer claims that we are “obligated” to aspiring immigrants and their dreams. Certainly he is entitled to his opinion, but it is not an opinion rooted in a proper understanding of our nationhood and our founding document, the Constitution. Specifically, the Preamble of that document states that our union exists to serve the general welfare and domestic tranquility of “we the people”—meaning citizens. Their interests come before those of “aspiring immigrants” and other foreigners.
Thus it is absurd to maintain that no one “has a greater claim to the American dream than any other.” First and foremost, Americans have a claim on the American Dream before anyone else. And if excessive levels of immigration threaten the dreams of Americans, such as by reducing their wages and job opportunities, then reducing immigration—far from being un-American—is the proper solution.
It is unfortunate that this writer, as an immigrant, has not assimilated to traditional American thinking, which views us as a distinct country in the world. Rather, it appears that his assimilation is to the viewpoints of what Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) calls “our cosmopolitan elites.” He notes that these elites in government, business, and media see nothing special about our country’s sovereignty, citizenship, or identity. It’s hard to imagine an outlook more profoundly un-American.