At the doctor's office this year I had to fill out newly required paperwork that included questions about my race and ethnicity. I chose the "refused to answer" option. I had been classified by ethnicity before in the Soviet Union, where every official document required indication of it. Our ethnicity, in turn, plus connections to the government, determined the level of our security and dignity. We found our dignity in the United States. "We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity," President Obama declared in his second inaugural address. "We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity." We naturalized citizens take care of our families and children, and in addition to paying taxes we contribute to charities of our choice. What's wrong with that? By all classifications, we were poor immigrants in our first years in the USA. But we didn't feel poor in this land of abundance. Here, in the dynamic land of capitalism, there is an honest way out of poverty. I find the classification of "poor" as degrading and discouraging. Old class-warfare demagoguery brought misery, poverty and hatred everywhere it was exercised. "Being true to our founding documents," said Obama, "does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time but it does require us to act in our time." The debate about the role of the government had a real-life test in the last century. Whether it was the National-Socialists of Germany and other fascist regimes, the liberal-socialism of Western Europe, or the communist dictatorships of the USSR, Eastern European countries, China, Cuba and North Korea all centralized regimes showed failing results, compared with the American experiment. The standard of living in the USA is higher for all, poor or rich. As Soviet Communists did in the last century, the Obama administration is dividing citizens into groups, belittling the concept of individual liberties. At the same time, he glorifies the socialist ideal of a big, centralized government. Living in the comfortable world created by capitalist free enterprise, atrocity-deniers insist on a better world of a socialist utopia where they find equality and social justice. Millions of talented people have perished as they refused to conform to equality; many who conformed sacrificed their talents to equate to mediocrity. Nobody knows how many Gershwins or Einsteins were cheated out of their dreams by government's ethnicity allocations. Because of his ethnicity, the father of Google co-founder Sergey Brin couldn't do what he wanted to do in the USSR, so he emigrated to the USA, where his son could pursue his dream. How come we immigrants from socialist countries have found social justice here in the USA while native citizens have not? Ignorant of history and directed by capitalism-haters in schools, they have no idea how liberty and independence from a centralized state magnify the dimensions of life. Old Soviet communists, who dreamed of and planted seeds for the demise of capitalism in the USA, now look upon the endless ignorance of Americans and rejoice. Modern America haters use this ignorance to finish the job. ⢠Kunin lived in the Soviet Union until 1980, working as a civil engineer. She is now a retired software developer living in Connecticut. This is the 28th column in her "Perspectives Of A Russian Immigrant" series, all of which can be found at ibdeditorials.com. http://news.investors.com/ibd-edito...-society-looks-a-lot-like-the-ussr.htm?p=full
That shit pisses me off when it's not relevant so I always put ARYAN. Trust me, it's NEVER a check box option:eek:
I think I might start using Venusian. At least I'll be a minority. I can't wait until they start asking if I have any guns.
When I was a kid my grade school would send us home with a card every year to fill out if we had any Indian heritage. I guess the schools would get more federal money if there was some Indian blood in any of the students. My mom, who was born in Oklahoma, would tell me every year that there wasn't enough Indian blood in me for the school to get a nickel. Little did she know that I could have been on easy street all my life if she had told me I was half or a quarter Cherokee!
They already ask on guns in some places. I took my child to the pediatrician for a checkup, and one of the questions was "Does your household have firearms?" I handed the questionnaire back to them with it blank, and told them that was none of their business.