Letters to the Editor
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Chris, at least you were civil, kind of
I will give you at least that much credit, of course you also give a back handed insult as if I can't read and then you proceed to not only not get the facts correct, but you leave yourself a little wiggle room with a couple "even if, then this" type of remarks, kind of allowing you to be wrong, but really be right in your own way of thinking. As I always state, if you don’t believe my sources, bring your own I would like to see them. I could easily be wrong and I have been before. I just can’t understand why everyone likes to attack instead of talk. From the beginning, all I ever said is that tourism isn’t down, and it isn’t. Has it been? Yes, as recently as 2001-2003 and not back to 2000 numbers before 2006. But is it up? Yes and have been increasing for the past four years and counting. Is European travel here declined? I never said it didn’t, but Western has, and Eastern hasn’t. I am not naïve, I understand we want more Western travelers, but since I never ever brought this up, I certainly wasn’t wrong about it and it has been increasing, which I did say. You say overseas travelers are most important and proceed to tell me I can’t read, but overseas tourism has been on the incline every year since 2003 and has surpassed pre-911 numbers, so where am I wrong?
The only thing "clearly" correct is that tourism suffered because of 9/11 (although you gloss over this incident and instead call everything pre-Bush), but it suffered the globe over. Other than that, apparently Bush's gestapo has not hindered tourism as "clearly" as you would hope.
Tourism was already on the decline in 1998 and then proceeded to pick back up the next three years. Needless to say, the rest of 2001 was a decline and 2002 and 2003 continued this trend. But from this point on, tourism has been on the rebound and increased. Perhaps since the rest of the world already has their own Gestapo in effect, they seemed to like ours. In addition to positive growth in tourism in these years, 2006 saw a return to pre-9/11 tourism levels, even as our own Gestapo was continuing to tighten.
While it is true that your rules of the game can not be denied and of course if you don't want to believe anything as true, even the numbers, then really, where can one argue, leaving you an all important out. However, with the creation of our Gestapo, numbers have not decreased, but increased and this includes Europe, where yes, numbers are not pre-911, although if trends continue, will be by this year.
I can grant you the Mexican arrivals, but Canadian no, since that is part of this story. Canadian visits are well up over pre-911 marks, even in the wake of all the Gestapo like tactics of the DHS, like asking for passports.
So while I appreciate you not ranting and raving like a lunatic, telling me I can't read what is really in front of me and then using words like "clearly" when you don't prove how "clearly" it is, still falls short. I guess that is why facts are always nice to have. What you said isn't wrong so to speak, but you don't "clearly" state anything and certainly don't show me where I didn't "read" something. But hey, it makes for a catchy subject line and maybe Mac will like you and you can gain that much needed attention.
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If Canada were smart and could take a hint, it would tell the US to shove it...
...withdraw from NAFTA, and petition the EU and Eurozone for membership. The Brits and French could actually agree on something EU-related for once! LOL (Although the EU might have to give separate memberships to Canada and Quebec in order to appease Paris.) Canada would be taken into the EU fold way sooner than Turkey, even if it is thousands of miles away from Europe. The economic and cultural and linguistic ties are that much stronger, and the EU would love to symbolically stick it to the US in such a fashion. The Canadians would get more love and attention from the EU than they ever have, or ever will, from the damned US government, that's for sure.
Anyway, this situation is NOT good. We should be integrating more closely with Canada, rather than pulling away and putting up more barriers. Also, those who can't see a difference between the Canadian and Mexican borders of the US are in a dream world, and that's not being racist or ehtnocentric. The vast economic gulf separating the US from Mexico and the drug and illegal immigration problems all justify a more guarded and secure southern border. The idea that we need to, and should, make the northern border into a carbon copy of the southern is silly and patently offensive to our closest cousins and allies in the world.
But the US is intent on antagonizing the rest of the world--xenophobia is in high gear among broad swathes of the population and many in our government and bureaucracies. And look at the results: Quite aside from the stark effects on trade and tourism with Canada that were outlined in the article, the US has seen a sharp drop in foreign visitors in recent years, as well as foreign students coming to US universities. And, as others have pointed out, many Asian and European travelers and businesspeople are starting to go out of their way to avoid the US. These trends will have serious consequences in the US for years to come, no matter who wins in November and what policy changes they implement.
From my own personal experience of extensive world travel, I have to agree that the DHS jerks in the US, at both land border crossings and international airports, are among the rudest, most arrogant, most paranoid and suspicious anywhere. They get off on their proto-fascist power trip more than most, and they seem to be screened to be the most xenophobic possible (exactly what we don't want at such places!) Years of travel to Canada (even long before 9/11) confirmed that getting into Canada was a much easier and friendlier experience than was returning to the US, which was both funny and offensive to me as a US citizen. Wide travel in Europe and Asia in recent years have confirmed my stereotypes of DHS agents. Hell, getting into China was easier than was getting back into the US from Asia--and I'm as white as they come. Of course I know that I haven't had it nearly as bad as those who want to enter the US and who have darker pigmentation or stranger names.
Recently, a close friend of mine from one of America's closest allies in Asia came to the US for an extended stay on a 10-year multiple re-entry tourist visa. He's never been far from home before, and had never before been to the US. He came with a friend and they were absolutely thrilled to land in San Francisco after a long and dreary trans-Pacific flight, but that elation only lasted until they got to the DHS checkpoint and were rudely and arrogantly grilled by some roided-out white trash prick, and then treated as suspected criminals through the whole process (fingerprinting, photos, etc.) My friend was more than put out by it--he'd naively assumed that he'd been fully vetted by the US embassy in his home country prior to the issuance of his visa. Not so! Welcome to Amerikkka! His reception to the country, as it were, soured his perception of the US immediately.
A cousin of mine lived and worked in Britian for several years, marrying an English man. They recently decided to relocate to the US, and you'd think that an American citizen with an English husband would have little trouble getting back to the US, right? WRONG. They had to jump innumerable hurdles, deal with bewildering delays, go through interviews, etc. just to get him a visa. That pissed them off enough, but then they were treated with rudeness and suspicion upon landing in the US too. She had nothing good to say about the whole experience.
And so it goes...we Americans are going to pay a steep price for this isolationism and xenophobia, but we deserve it in spades.