No country can accept unlimited numbers of poor people simply looking to be taken care of by a social welfare network.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s there was a group of snobs based primarily in the Boston area. They advanced the theory that bloodlines were critically important to the future of the United States and were horrified about what was happening with immigration. They detested people coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who they claimed were inferior and would be responsible for the eventual destruction of the United States if they outproduced "high class" people like themselves. Eastern Europe specifically meant Hungarian, Polish, Russian (especially Jews) and other surrounding countries and Southern Europe meant Italians.

Their initial steps were to gather data with very unscientific methods. Testing with absurd questions that proved absolutely nothing and was skewed to make those who had come here first easily seem superior to later "low class" arrivals who were judged as imbeciles and clearly inferior.

They assumed that the same way you could improve plants and animals by selective hybridizing and breeding, could be utilized to improve the quality of the human race. Of course, this would mean banning certain immigrants and forced sterilization of people in poor houses, prisons, epileptics etc. These people were serious as a heart attack to control the gene pool and who would be allowed to produce future generations. Their goal was to enhance the chance of Nordic genes to dominate the culture and create a "super race" based on Western and Northern Europeans the Nordic peoples. You should be able to guess who paid close attention to all this "scientific racism" and used it as a basis to rid the planet of the specific groups he felt were inferior. Adolph Hitler adopted this theory and killed millions with this reprehensible view of humanity.

These eugenicists were able to get support from the rich and powerful, including senators and presidents, to eventually assign quotas to various "undesirable" countries based on their perceived ability to contribute to the genetic future of the United States. One country was given a quota of one-half a person although they promised not to cut the person in half. How generous! A vocal minority went on the offensive and ridiculed these non-experts using non-science trying to prevent the immigration of undesirables. One of the main studies only examined people in insane asylums slight lack of scientific objectivity!

This discrimination agenda was so flawed as to seem impossible to understand but this was the late 1890s and early 1920s. Eventually intelligent people ended the lunacy but there is an interesting parallel. Samuel Gompers, the labor leader, had primarily economic reasons to oppose immigration and I believe that is the current argument. It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with class. No country can accept unlimited numbers of poor people simply looking to be taken care of by a social welfare network.

The original immigrants came here to work and be assimilated while the current invasion is primarily by people who want to improve their lives by adding their names to the welfare rolls. Sorry, but that is not a legitimate reason to bankrupt a country that is already essentially bankrupt. Immigration restriction is a valid issue because it is class-based and not race-based. Incidentally, my background is Eastern European.

The Statue of Liberty no longer has legitimacy and should be sent back to France. The inscription no longer applies and is not reasonable, realistic or even possible. It is an outdated suicide pact!

Mike Zuroick lives in Langhorne.

Originally posted here:

Guest Opinion: The Statue of Liberty's inscription is now unreasonable - The Intelligencer