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Quote by Maureen Dowd

“Paul Ryan, who teamed up with Akin in the House to sponsor harsh anti-abortion bills, may look young and hip and new generation, with his iPod full of heavy metal jams and his cute kids. But he's just a fresh face on a Taliban creed - the evermore antediluvian, anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-gay conservative core. Amiable in khakis and polo shirts, Ryan is the perfect modern leader to rally medieval Republicans who believe that Adam and Eve cavorted with dinosaurs.”

Quote by Maureen Dowd

Author

Maureen Dowd
Maureen Dowd

Maureen Dowd is an American journalist and columnist recognized for her insightful and humorous commentary on American politics and culture. Born on January 14, 1952, she has been a prominent figure in American journalism for over three decades. Dowd has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. 【Detailed Biography】Maureen Dowd is an esteemed American journalist and political commentator, known for her insightful and witty analysis of American politics and culture. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times, where she has been a staff writer since 1995. Dowd's work has also appeared in various other publications, including The New Yorker and Vanity Fair. Born on January 14, 1952, in Northport, New York, Dowd grew up in a family of journalists. She attended the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in English and was editor of The Observer, the student newspaper. After graduating, she worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal before joining The New York Times. Dowd has made significant contributions to American journalism with her sharp wit and insightful commentary. Her columns have covered a wide range of topics, from politics to social issues, and have often sparked national debates. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1999. Maureen Dowd's work has had a profound impact on American political and cultural discourse. Her ability to blend humor with serious analysis has made her a beloved figure among readers and a respected voice in the media. Despite criticism and controversy, Dowd remains a prominent figure in American journalism, known for her unique perspective and compelling writing style. more

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“You had a flood of immigrants, millions of them, coming to this country. What brought them here? It was the hope for a better life for them and their children. And, in the main, they succeeded. It is hard to find any century in history, in which so large a number of people experience so great an improvement in the conditions of their life, in the opportunities open to them, as in the period of the 19th and early 20th century.”

“You will find that hardly a soul who will say that it was a bad thing. Almost everybody will say it was a good thing. 'But what about today? Do you think we should have free immigration?' 'Oh, no,' they'll say, 'We couldn't possibly have free immigration today. Why, that would flood us with immigrants from India, and God knows where. We'd be driven down to a bare subsistence level.'”

“Because it is one thing to have free immigration to jobs. It is another thing to have free immigration to welfare. And you cannot have both. If you have a welfare state, if you have a state in which every resident is promises a certain minimal level of income, or a minimum level of subsistence, regardless of whether he works or not, produces it or not. Then it really is an impossible thing.”

“If you have free immigration, in the way we had it before 1914, everybody benefited. The people who were here benefited. The people who came benefited. Because nobody would come unless he, or his family, thought he would do better here than he would elsewhere. And, the new immigrants provided additional resources, provided additional possibilities for the people already here. So everybody can mutually benefit.”

“But on the other hand, if you come under circumstances where each person is entitled to a pro-rata share of the pot, to take an extreme example, or even to a low level of the pie, than the effect of that situation is that free immigration, would mean a reduction of everybody to the same, uniform level. Of course, I'm exaggerating, it wouldn't go quite that far, but it would go in that direction. And it is that perception, that leads people to adopt what at first seems like inconsistent values.”

“Look, for example, at the obvious, immediate, practical example of illegal Mexican immigration. Now, that Mexican immigration, over the border, is a good thing. It's a good thing for the illegal immigrants. It's a good thing for the United States. It's a good thing for the citizens of the country. But, it's only good so long as its illegal....”

“That's an interesting paradox to think about. Make it legal and it's no good. Why? Because as long as it's illegal the people who come in do not qualify for welfare, they don't qualify for social security, they don't qualify for the other myriad of benefits that we pour out from our left pocket to our right pocket. So long as they don't qualify they migrate to jobs. They take jobs that most residents of this country are unwilling to take. They provide employers with the kind of workers that they cannot get. They're hard workers, they're good workers, and they are clearly better off.”