SOCIAL JUSTICE

Running head: DRAFT ESSAY 0

Draft Essay

Derrell Ramsey

Keiser University

January 25,2017

Government, Politics and Social Justice: Is America on the right road?

The issues of social justice, government and politics are related to the country’s identity. Interaction of the above three factors will enable one to understand their history and identity in a better way. One of the critical issue affected by the factors is that of immigrants where they are considered to have an effect on the nation’s identity. Government plays a role in the issue of immigrants in that it is responsible for passing and implementation of policies that affect the immigrants. Politics also play a critical role in the issue of immigrants in that politicians usually have an influence on the laws and regulations on immigrants. Social justice is evident in the way the immigrants are treated in the host country. There has been a concern in United States as to whether the immigrants from Third World countries and who are non-English speakers destroy national identity (Muller, 2006). The major focus of this essay will be the advantages and disadvantages of immigrants to the nation in order to reach a conclusion as to whether it really affects the nation’s identity.

There are many people who have raised concerns over the loss of American identity due to increase in Muslim and Latino populations. However others dismiss this notion claiming that immigrants are important to the country and that several measures can be put in place to ensure that national identity is still maintained. Immigration has been considered to be of great benefit to United States in that it has shaped many political, economic and social processes that are important to the nation (Joppke, 2014). The nation also benefits from immigrants in terms of the labor force, some of the best researchers and scientists are immigrants and therefore discouraging them or driving them back to their countries will result in loss to United States. United States is the leading country in the world in regards to asylum and refugee admissions which mostly comprise the immigrants.

The major concern that is raised by those against insurgence of immigrants is that it leads to degradation of the culture of the society. This is through various social aspects such as language and religion. For example the dominant language in United States is English but immigrants into the country may not be English speakers, they will continue using the language and therefore may not adopt the national language in the host country. In regards to religion, although there are many religions in United States, Christians remain to be the dominant religious group and more Muslims may be a threat to the national identity and will even lead to more hatred as the dominant group will feel that it is under threat of the upcoming religion.

From a closer perspective, United States have favorable policies on immigrants and in order to ensure that the nation benefits those having some level and type of education. American culture has also been depicted as having a disproportionate representation of the immigrant populations (Huntington, 2004). This usually creates a particular stereotypical image among these immigrant groups, in some instances they are displayed as hardworking people who contribute to a better economy. The issue of immigrants has been a major topic among politicians in their election campaigns where they use it to gain political milestones. Some embrace these immigrants to get their votes while others turn against them so that they can be voted by the larger population who think that the immigrants pose a threat to the national identity. In summary, immigrants have both positive and negative impact to the nation. However, it is important to put in place policies that will create a win to win situation for both the locals and the immigrants.

References

Huntington, P. (2004). Who are We?: The Challenges to America's National Identity. Simon and Schuster.

Joppke, C., & Morawska, E. (2014). Integrating immigrants in liberal nation-states: policies and practices. In Toward assimilation and citizenship: Immigrants in liberal nation-states (pp. 1-36). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Muller, G. H. (2006). The McGraw-Hill reader: Issues across the disciplines. Boston: McGraw-Hill