A portion of the excerpt reproduced below was published in the WSJ's "notable and quotable" column the other day. It is from Tyler Cowen interview with Larry Summers. The transcript can be found at Ep. 28: Larry Summers on Macroeconomics, Mentorship, and Avoiding Complacency. And here's the portion of the interview addressing immigration.
COWEN: The DREAM Act is in the news right now. What’s the best way to think about where the limits to immigration should be? You’ve spoken out in favor of renewing the DREAM Act or possibly doing more. What’s the margin at which we say, “No more”?
SUMMERS: I think, on the DREAM Act, because the people are here, they’ve invested their lives and we, as a country, made a commitment to them, I think it’s a no-brainer to find ways to enable them to stay. The right broad deal on immigration is yes, there should be immigration but at least my view is the idea of the melting pot, which has become unfashionable in many circles, is actually a good idea.
The understanding should be that if you immigrate to the United States you’re immigrating to the United States to become an American. That reflects acculturation, one crucial part of which is speaking English and understanding that you’re going to be learning English and that you’re going to be carrying on your life in English. If we had more acceptance of the idea that immigration was about becoming American, we would have more acceptance of higher levels of immigration than generate comfort right now.
But one does need to understand that any country should make policy in the interests of its current citizens. It would be in the interests of America’s current citizens to have more immigrants come for all sorts of economic reasons and many ways in which it would support the economy. But when the argument is framed in terms of broad obligation to humanity and so forth, it’s understandable that there’s some reluctance to accept that argument.
That makes perfect sense, and that's the way it was for many years. But identity politics became the game plan for Democrats. And now immigrants are encouraged to reject any notion of pride in America but instead agitate for a separate status as non-American.
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2:42 PM 9/25/2017
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