like the Irish in the 1840s? or Southern Italians  and Eastern European
Jews in the late 19th century?  Or the Chinese in the 1850s?  Or even
the Cubans after 1959? They lost a civil war (revolution) and left.

Paul

J. Douglas Deal wrote:

>There are indeed "push" (why leave place A) and "pull" (why go to place B)
>factors involved in any and every act of migration. But the suggestion
>that we were a magnet for people who had failed miserably somewhere else
>and had no other options just doesn't ring true. It could be said instead
>that people who migrate are risk-takers, adventurers, and enterprisers
>looking for opportunities that match their talents and aspirations. The
>key is how people adapt to failure or any other adversity, wherever they
>are. Sure, there will always be an admixture of restless misfits among
>those on the move, but my reading of our history and my observations of
>out-migration from today's "rust belt" (the people leaving are young,
>talented, ambitious--not failures at all) lead me to think that migration
>is a positive selection process (adaptation via drastic change in
>environment--which change always entails a rocky period of "adjustment"),
>not a negative one. Failures and "losers" typically stay put, tethered by
>inertia or genuine lack of options.
>
>Douglas Deal
>Professor of History and Chair of History Department
>State University of New York at Oswego
>Oswego, NY 13126
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>(315)-312-5632
>
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>

--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, OK   74104-3189

918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)

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