What do you think about what Theodore Roosevelt had to say in 1907?

Question

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be NO divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but ONE flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

The year was 1907 but Theodore Roosevelt knew what he was talking about.

To answer those who questioned why I posted this in religion, note what Roosevelt had to say about CREED. He is saying that your religious or for that matter non religious belief system should not be discriminated against but ALL should hold their worldly allegiance to AMERICA.

Girl Wonder

Actually, that is not what I was trying to say. I think I posted my extra details after you submitted. I was saying that we must not descriminate religiously BUT we MUST descriminate in regard to being AMERICAN. If you come here then fly the AMERICAN flag on your cars front license plate. If you come here then LEARN THE LANGUAGE. If you come here then BE AMERICAN.

Answer 1

I agree with this statement 100%. I am all for immigration. But it must be done in a legal manner. You cant come to a place illegally and then say "im a law abiding citizen.
If people want to come to america to better their lives but want to remain a citizen of their home country... do it legally, get a work visa or student visa and hold to the agreement of that visa.
If people want to come and live in america and become citizens... wonderful! I fully encourage that... but do so legally, become an american... you cannot do that while trying to maintain everything from your country of origin. You must release that and embrace being an american. This does not mean you have to forget your heritage, it simply means you cant force your heritage on americans and expect them to accept you as an "american".
When you fly a flag of another country in your yard.... you dishonor the flag that provides the home and your freedoms. When you refuse to learn the language.

If you read this in english.... thank a Teacher....
If you read it in freedom.... thank a Soldier

Answer 2

He was dead wrong about the language. Spanish is a de facto second language now, and the United States is stronger for it.

As far as divided allegiance, I agree. The biggest problem the United States currently faces is that there is a giant right-wing religious bloc which pays its allegiance to religious groups rather than to the United States.

Later:

Your "learn the language" comment is simply wrong. America does not have an official language, and that fact is part of what makes America special. If you don't like that fact, don't insist that everyone else speak your language - why should America adjust to you? If you don't like being an American, you can certainly move to a country that DOES have an official language.

I'm amazed that there are still people who don't understand that "if you're in America, speak English" is an anti-American statement. I think that right-wing talk radio is thoroughly corrupting us, destroying what little patriotism we had left here.

Answer 3

By his logic, there should be no religion at all in America. I know you are saying this to insinuate that Muslims should give up being Muslims if they want to be Americans or something, but if we went by this, no one who was an American could owe allegiance to anything other than the American government, and this includes the Christian god.

Not everything every American president said was gold. Roosevelt did a lot of good, but he was a bit of a racist bastard. :)

Answer 4

I've been thinking about that and I think the American spirit and pride we used to have is going down the drain. No one cares anymore they don't even vote. Other people are just coming in and disrespecting our laws and culture and changing this nation to something else. There are parts of America that don't speak English anymore. I don't care what race I am I was born here so I am a loyal American forever. It's not a race thing it's an American thing.

Answer 5

fine.

But I would also like to point out that never ever in the history of America has English been classified as the national language. America has yet to stipulate which language the country speaks first and foremost. (Just a useless fact to wither the day away with)

Answer 6

I agree completely. I dont have a problem with people coming over here from other countries, my family came over from Italy in the 50s and even at that time, they had to learn English. My great-grandmother came at that time as well and she never learned English, and therefore never had a job in the US. My grandmother learned English and worked here until she retired and also never sent the money she earned here back to Italy. I think those 2 things anger me most about present day immigrants, they are not required to learn english, they get TAX FREE government loans to open businesses where they do not have to hire outside their family or outside their race and send the money back to their old country. I however, cant even GET a loan to open a business even though I have been in business for 7 years and have my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and Management (I am also a CPA) because I dont have a lot of money to back up the loan incase the business fails. Is this asked of the foreigners that come here? Of course not, to THEM it is the land of opportunity, just not to those born here.

Answer 7

He is politically correct, which means he is correct. He is also biblically correct in that a person cannot have divided loyalty. A nation can have only one culture and in American we must have an American culture. This culture is difficult to define, but it can be defined and in defining it we must first insist that the language must be American English. We cannot function as a bilingual nation. Second, from a standpoint of religion, we are a Christian nation. We can tolerate other religions, but we must always be fundamentally Christian.

Answer 8

Every great civilization has fallen when the ratio of immigration to growth of Gross Domestic Product was higher than 1 (meaning more immigration than growth of economy). The US crossed that threshold 8 years ago. One can only wonder.

Answer 9

English is not the official language. Also, America is a land of immigrants. We ALL come from immigrants. Roosevelt's concept of America is out of touch with reality.

Answer 10

a smart man ,if you wish to become a American, you should learn our language and not take away our rights.