George W. Bush Paints Immigrants as ‘Energy and Talent’
Amateur painter and former President George W. Bush is selling a portrait book of “forty-three individuals who exemplify our proud history as a nation of immigrants.”
The book of portraits is titled, “Out of Many, One,” and it showcases the “people who bring energy, and talent, and faith in the future … may we never forget that immigration is a blessing and a strength,” according to statements from the George. W. Bush Presidential Center.
Bush’s rebuke of the American public comes as polls and debates show that Americans know that legal immigration imposes huge costs on them. But the Bush statement dismissed public opposition to cheap labor migration as “the complications of policy.”
The statements from Bush echo the establishment view that immigration is rocket fuel for investors and for the federal government’s clout in international relations, regardless of the impact on ordinary Americans:
At its core, immigration is a sign of a confident and successful nation. It says something about our country that people all around the world are willing to leave their homes and leave their families and risk everything to come to our country. Their talent and hard work and love of freedom have helped us become the leader of the world. Our generation must ensure that America remains a beacon of liberty and the most hopeful society the world has ever known. We must always be proud to welcome people as fellow Americans. Our new immigrants are just what they’ve always been — people willing to risk everything for the dream of freedom.
Bush’s “Nation of Immigrants” claim was first pushed in the early 1960s when wages were rising rapidly in a popular culture that praised Christian Pilgrims, American settlers, and rugged individualism. But the U.S. government wanted business to have more resources to help win the Cold War. In 2018. Democratic Rep. Joe Kennedy wrote:
Few felt it as deeply as President John F. Kennedy. In his 1964 book A Nation of Immigrants, recently re-released, my great-uncle outlines the compelling case for immigration, in economic, moral, and global terms. “The abundant resources of this land provided the foundation for a great nation,” he writes. “But only people could make the opportunity a reality. Immigration provided the human resources.”
Bush’s previous book of paintings featured portraits of American soldiers.
The public response to Bush’s book is mixed:
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2020/08/07/george-w-bush-paints-immigrants-as-people-with-energy-and-talent/