One of the worst trait of knee-jerk lefties around the world, or here actually, is an lazy anti-Americanism. For a country like Greece, that does not make sense. There are many ways in which America could benefit from imitating Greek attitudes on food, family, and work-life balance.
But Greece really needs to copy American ideals such as meritocracy, faith in democratic institutions (courts, etc.), taking more personal responsibility for civic life (volunteerism, citizens boards), and above all not asking what your country can do for you but what can you for your country.
One way our meritocracy manifests itself is an immigrant can come to America and instantly feel like an American, and more importantly know a child born here is automatically an American citizen.
Unlike the U.S. or Canada, most old world nation's determine citizenship by blood or heritage. For instance, in Greece there are generations of Greek-born Albanians who despite that birth are officially Albanian citizens. The same was true for Turks in Germany, northern Africans in France, etc. That is starting to change in Europe, though not everywhere, but in a very progressive move changed this week in Greece courtesy of Syriza.
On Tuesday, Alternate Migration Policy Minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou announced that Greek nationality would be granted to all migrants' children who were born and raised in Greece. She added that this would apply to even those who were not born here, but came to Greece at very young age and finished school here.
That is huge! Congrats to Syriza for that very humane and logical move, AND for imitating the U.S. too.
But Greece really needs to copy American ideals such as meritocracy, faith in democratic institutions (courts, etc.), taking more personal responsibility for civic life (volunteerism, citizens boards), and above all not asking what your country can do for you but what can you for your country.
One way our meritocracy manifests itself is an immigrant can come to America and instantly feel like an American, and more importantly know a child born here is automatically an American citizen.
Unlike the U.S. or Canada, most old world nation's determine citizenship by blood or heritage. For instance, in Greece there are generations of Greek-born Albanians who despite that birth are officially Albanian citizens. The same was true for Turks in Germany, northern Africans in France, etc. That is starting to change in Europe, though not everywhere, but in a very progressive move changed this week in Greece courtesy of Syriza.
On Tuesday, Alternate Migration Policy Minister Tasia Christodoulopoulou announced that Greek nationality would be granted to all migrants' children who were born and raised in Greece. She added that this would apply to even those who were not born here, but came to Greece at very young age and finished school here.
That is huge! Congrats to Syriza for that very humane and logical move, AND for imitating the U.S. too.
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