Why Immigrants Are Happier, More Patriotic, Less Woke, and More Optimistic

The Backchannel

The right has spent years arguing that immigrants don't assimilate well into American culture, while the left has played up America's flaws, arguing that the country simply isn't as desirable as we're told.
What if they're both wrong?
On this episode, Zaid and Shant talk about a recent piece Zaid wrote for the online magazine Persuasion, in which he argues that immigrants are among the most patriotic and hard-working Americans, and that if we want to strengthen America's civic culture, we should embrace immigration.
Zaid's Persuasion piece on immigration:
https://www.persuasion.community/p/immigrants-are-far-more-patriotic
Pew's data on what countries are most optimistic about the future:
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/10/09/emerging-and-developing-economies-much-more-optimistic-than-rich-countries-about-the-future/
Brookings survey showing poor blacks and hispanics are more optimistic than poor whites:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-are-black-poor-americans-more-optimistic-than-white-ones/
Chris Arnade’s piece at American Compass:
https://americancompass.org/immigrants-and-the-american-dream/