Got a dream they've come to share
On Neil Diamond, days at the lake, and why Labor Day is a pretty good day to cheer for immigration
Labor Day isn't an expressly patriotic holiday in the same fashion as Independence Day or Memorial Day, but it tends to attract a fair amount of flag-waving on its own as people celebrate with parades, lake days, and other outdoor events. It isn't uncommon to hear a few patriotic songs in the air on the holiday, either.
■ One of the best of those themes is Neil Diamond's "America". And it has become increasingly evident that there are two camps among Americans who hear it: One hears a joyful anthem of hope when Diamond sings that "Everywhere around the world, they're coming to America".
■ A different camp hears those same words and concludes that it's a threat. More often than not, there's an aspect of economic jealousy involved. It's a faulty conclusion for many reasons, not least of which that the history of the country has always been one of immigration and assimilation. But it's also particularly faulty in light of the holiday.
■ Nobody has ever been able to disentangle the identity of America from the notion of work. This is a country that invites and encourages hard work and the collection of the fruits of one's own labors. The proof of that is found in our continuing struggle to heal the nation's original sin of slavery, when people were inhumanely deprived of their liberty and forced into servitude. There will long be work to do to heal that wound.
■ We have to conclude that for everyone else, America has broadly held the promise of opportunity born out of one's own work. Those who hear Neil Diamond and think of hope are the ones who are right, of course. The whole point is that everyone brings something new and fresh to the community. In the words of the song, they've "got a dream they've come to share".
■ Most people end up spending most of the income they produce, and saving (or investing) what remains. That should mean to us that new arrivals in a big economy like ours are simply going to "grow the pie" -- they will do work, but they'll put others to work with what they consume. It's really quite improbable for people to be displaced from the economy by new arrivals; the growth is shared, whether it's intentional or not. It's a mark of strength and honor that we invite people to join the dream and share in the resulting growth.
