Has anyone listened to Reagan’s speech on Immigrants?

7 comments

1. I mean, I think it’s pro-American bullshit, just like pretty much all of his “good” speeches.

   There are plenty of countries where expats can move to, and become a “part” of those places, and, probably more importantly, it’s in the nature of American marginalization that many — maybe *most* — immigrants who move to America *don’t* “become” American.

   Like, to claim that America’s strength comes from each wave of immigrants kind of ignores the fact that each wave of immigrants has been met with stark restrictions, racist sentiment, and xenophobia, right?

   And people love to lavish Reagan with praise for the IRCA, but, beyond the amnesty it granted, the IRCA *significantly* toughened the border and helped set the stage for the horrendous abuses of human rights we witness today along the southern border, and it did nothing for any future waves of immigrants.

2. I actively avoid listening political speeches, regardless of party. They don’t lend themselves to nuance.

3. I’m not a fan of Ronald Reagan. A lot of what’s wrong with our nation today is the result of Reagan and his politics.

   But I do miss the days when we had a shared ideal of what America should be. You can say Reagan was full of shit, and that the America he talked about was never real, but the point wasn’t about reality as much as about aspiration. If you believe America was/is/will be a Great Nation, you work with your fellow Americans to achieve greatness. If you believe your fellow Americans are crazy, immoral idiots bent on destroying everything you value, there’s little chance of achieving much of anything together. Reagan, like many other leaders in the past, understood this.

   Trump would have disgusted Reagan. Nothing is sacred to Trump. He sees patriotism as a scam, and immigrants as nothing but a political target of opportunity. He doesn’t want to inspire Americans to work together to build our nation up, but he works to divide and confuse us for his own personal gain. The worst aspect of Trump is how he convinces people everyone is as bad and selfish and immoral as he is.

   I miss the days when we all agreed we wanted peace and prosperity and good health and justice and fairness and all of those good things, and politics was about picking the best path to get there. Today, it’s about unraveling the insane conspiracy theories motivating your opposition’s latest threat against American life. And we all seem to eat it up, with few political leaders willing or able to steer us back towards a common vision of America’s future.

   When Reagan spoke, I agreed with his vision, I just thought he had the wrong policies to get us there. When Trump speaks, I desperately hope someone can stop him before he succeeds in destroying the very fabric of society.

4. I have and it’s a wonderful speech.

   Sadly, on reddit you are mostly going to get people that haven’t listened to it, don’t know a ton about Reagan, and think he’s literally the reason republicans are eeeeevil and every bad thing can be traced to Reagan! You’ll get a handful of un-nuanced talking points that they read somewhere online and accepted uncritically.

   He was simultaneously a doddering demented fool and also a silver tongued mastermind hell bent on ripping our country to shreds.

5. ain’t no way i’m wasting a single second of my time listening to something Ronald Reagan said

6. As a son of two immigrants who arrived during the Reagan era, I shed a tear at the part where he mentions that anyone can be American in any corner of the world. Thanks for starting off my Friday feeling immensely patriotic at my desk job.

7. I do think he’s the devil incarnate for a variety of reasons, but he hella went after that Latino vote.