Good analysis, but who is listening? What lawmaker or political coalition is going to turn this around?
Also, the H-1B program is even worse than you lay out here. It has transformed—and as a result ruined—entire neighborhoods and cities, with the only benefit being that these supposedly intelligent people usually pay more for real estate than they should, giving the native sellers an easier exit strategy from the mess.
I agree with your subheading completely. Thought you were talking about Congress or DOJ at first, but no, you were talking about the H1B program. It’s been a legal form of indentured servitude for decades, so yeah, it needs to go.
It’s been a bane for native born IT workers. I assure you that many of them are paid at least 40% less than the prevailing wage and are often woefully under skilled. The thing is that AI is rumored to be cutting into the lower ranks of IT, and this may well reduce the demand for the H1-B. I agree the whole program should be scrapped.
If you have policies that increase the number of aspiring elites through immigration while you are already overproducing elites through excessive college enrollment, you might be looking for serious trouble. Check out @peterturchin and his theories.
I believe our country is an idea unique in the world to almost any other country. This is how I interpret “American Exceptionalism”. Our country is not about “heritage Americans” that have 5 generations in the cemetery as our VP has recently stated. This “know nothing” (1850s) sentiment is something I do not agree with maybe because I don’t view things from a zero- sum mindset. In my opinion our greatest comparative advantage in the Ricardo sense is our tremendous DIVERSITY. No one in the world (whether skilled or unskilled) is trying to immigrate to Russia or China; in fact many have left.
We are in the simplest words- a nation of immigrants! E PLURIBUS UNUM
The problem is, yours is, by now, a rather quaint notion. I used to defend civic nationalism to fellow Dem friends. Even arguing in favor of benign, inclusive nationalism, based on a shared commitment as fellow citizens to a national creed and project, went too far for them. Any kind of nationalism was too "racist" and scary. Valuing citizenship at all wasn't fair to all the "worthier", "more diverse" people who wanted to live here, but didn't yet. Besides, some of those fellow citizens liked NASCAR and bad beer and uncool music.
In any event, civic nationalism has steadily become so thin a concept, it no longer seems to hold much meaning, neither for elitist, "anywhere" Americans who bond with their real peers abroad, by trashing our country and people, nor for more and more of the masses of legal and illegal economic migrants who just want to make money here, and, perhaps also take advantage of our open, trusting society, in order to impose their own cultures. When civic nationalism is reduced to mouthing things you memorized but don't accept, and, our elites simultaneously inform us that anyone who arrived here five minutes ago is a better American than we are, even as they spit on our country, or tell us openly they are here to take over, platitudes about civic nationalism are almost offensive. It has no meaning, It requires no responsibility or sacrifice.
When the contrast is with people who have lived in the same areas for generations, building businesses and civic organizations, paying taxes, volunteering in their communities, and risking life and limb on behalf of this country, it's simply not right or fair to suggest that someone who was just fast-tracked to citizenship, who has no deep connection or commitment to this country, deserves the same status. We've been lectured by great thinkers like Jack White, that we are all just hypocrites if we think our connection to the only home we have and have ever known has any deeper meaning than hating the immigrants we were five minutes ago. But the most recent of my ancestors to arrive in this country came from Wales amid the US Civil War, and almost immediately enlisted in the Union Army.
That means more than somebody who came here yesterday on a visa meant to undercut my fellow citizens, who studied and worked hard and are just trying to earn a decent living in their only home on earth. Don't ask me for a formula - I agree this is a mess. But I'm done pretending my place here has less or at best equal value to someone who just arrived. When you move to a new neighborhood, whether it's in Brooklyn, or the rural Midwest, you step lightly, and you pay your dues! You don't disrespect and try to walk over the people who have lived there for generations. More recent migrants have been told they are saintly and can do no wrong and that if any of us object, it's because we're "racist" "white supremacists". And far too many have absorbed this message. I lost count of how many people I met in NYC, residing here, who literally laughed at the idea of following our immigration laws, while expressing chauvinistic support for another country. NYC used to be a unique place. But that mentality has spread: more and more migrants have no interest in ever assimilating and instead demand we bend to them, while calling us names and threatening us. More and more are brazen about their plans to take and supplant, not contribute and support.
Civic Nationalism is dead. I wish it wasn't. But it was killed by smug elitists who first told us that it was racist to even have countries or creeds. And who then told us that, actually, civic nationalism is great, because it means we have to take anyone and everyone - even as they are waving machetes and setting off IEDs.
We are a nation of scabs - it's the only reason this country has every welcomed immigrants (including my own ancestors), to undercut the wages of those already here trying to move up the scale.
It is interesting that the those that praise China's Green "cost effective" technology ignore both the pollution issues (https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/03/rare-earths-race-risks-environmental-disaster ) and the labor issues inside and now outside of China even by the top company BYD (see https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-14/byd-accused-by-labor-rights-group-of-violations-at-hungary-plant and https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/brazils-top-labor-inspector-fired-190110706.html. It may be that the entire full EV car growth is itself not sustainable.
Good analysis, but who is listening? What lawmaker or political coalition is going to turn this around?
Also, the H-1B program is even worse than you lay out here. It has transformed—and as a result ruined—entire neighborhoods and cities, with the only benefit being that these supposedly intelligent people usually pay more for real estate than they should, giving the native sellers an easier exit strategy from the mess.
Boomer here and not nostalgic for Dole or Ted Kennedy. I loathed them then and still do. Just stop that crap
I agree with your subheading completely. Thought you were talking about Congress or DOJ at first, but no, you were talking about the H1B program. It’s been a legal form of indentured servitude for decades, so yeah, it needs to go.
It’s been a bane for native born IT workers. I assure you that many of them are paid at least 40% less than the prevailing wage and are often woefully under skilled. The thing is that AI is rumored to be cutting into the lower ranks of IT, and this may well reduce the demand for the H1-B. I agree the whole program should be scrapped.
I could not agree more.
H1-B Delenda Est.
If you have policies that increase the number of aspiring elites through immigration while you are already overproducing elites through excessive college enrollment, you might be looking for serious trouble. Check out @peterturchin and his theories.
Yeah. Elite overproduction is definitely a thing.
Yale recently added 2 more residential colleges.
I was opposed, but they did not listen. . .
The competition just got a little bit harder, for the recent graduates.
You're so absurdly retarded. It's quite funny. Just utter feelings based slop.
I believe our country is an idea unique in the world to almost any other country. This is how I interpret “American Exceptionalism”. Our country is not about “heritage Americans” that have 5 generations in the cemetery as our VP has recently stated. This “know nothing” (1850s) sentiment is something I do not agree with maybe because I don’t view things from a zero- sum mindset. In my opinion our greatest comparative advantage in the Ricardo sense is our tremendous DIVERSITY. No one in the world (whether skilled or unskilled) is trying to immigrate to Russia or China; in fact many have left.
We are in the simplest words- a nation of immigrants! E PLURIBUS UNUM
The problem is, yours is, by now, a rather quaint notion. I used to defend civic nationalism to fellow Dem friends. Even arguing in favor of benign, inclusive nationalism, based on a shared commitment as fellow citizens to a national creed and project, went too far for them. Any kind of nationalism was too "racist" and scary. Valuing citizenship at all wasn't fair to all the "worthier", "more diverse" people who wanted to live here, but didn't yet. Besides, some of those fellow citizens liked NASCAR and bad beer and uncool music.
In any event, civic nationalism has steadily become so thin a concept, it no longer seems to hold much meaning, neither for elitist, "anywhere" Americans who bond with their real peers abroad, by trashing our country and people, nor for more and more of the masses of legal and illegal economic migrants who just want to make money here, and, perhaps also take advantage of our open, trusting society, in order to impose their own cultures. When civic nationalism is reduced to mouthing things you memorized but don't accept, and, our elites simultaneously inform us that anyone who arrived here five minutes ago is a better American than we are, even as they spit on our country, or tell us openly they are here to take over, platitudes about civic nationalism are almost offensive. It has no meaning, It requires no responsibility or sacrifice.
When the contrast is with people who have lived in the same areas for generations, building businesses and civic organizations, paying taxes, volunteering in their communities, and risking life and limb on behalf of this country, it's simply not right or fair to suggest that someone who was just fast-tracked to citizenship, who has no deep connection or commitment to this country, deserves the same status. We've been lectured by great thinkers like Jack White, that we are all just hypocrites if we think our connection to the only home we have and have ever known has any deeper meaning than hating the immigrants we were five minutes ago. But the most recent of my ancestors to arrive in this country came from Wales amid the US Civil War, and almost immediately enlisted in the Union Army.
That means more than somebody who came here yesterday on a visa meant to undercut my fellow citizens, who studied and worked hard and are just trying to earn a decent living in their only home on earth. Don't ask me for a formula - I agree this is a mess. But I'm done pretending my place here has less or at best equal value to someone who just arrived. When you move to a new neighborhood, whether it's in Brooklyn, or the rural Midwest, you step lightly, and you pay your dues! You don't disrespect and try to walk over the people who have lived there for generations. More recent migrants have been told they are saintly and can do no wrong and that if any of us object, it's because we're "racist" "white supremacists". And far too many have absorbed this message. I lost count of how many people I met in NYC, residing here, who literally laughed at the idea of following our immigration laws, while expressing chauvinistic support for another country. NYC used to be a unique place. But that mentality has spread: more and more migrants have no interest in ever assimilating and instead demand we bend to them, while calling us names and threatening us. More and more are brazen about their plans to take and supplant, not contribute and support.
Civic Nationalism is dead. I wish it wasn't. But it was killed by smug elitists who first told us that it was racist to even have countries or creeds. And who then told us that, actually, civic nationalism is great, because it means we have to take anyone and everyone - even as they are waving machetes and setting off IEDs.
We are a nation of scabs - it's the only reason this country has every welcomed immigrants (including my own ancestors), to undercut the wages of those already here trying to move up the scale.