America still the land of opportunity

America is a true world country, made up of people from every other country. America is unique in its rapid acceptance of immigrants who are readily assimilated into the population with no stigma or ill will attached to their foreign origins, although perhaps Australia is not far behind America in  welcoming immigrants.

America has been enriched by immigrants who do everything from jobs most Americans spurn to achieving the highest levels of capability and productivity in the arts, sciences, and professions.

During a recent summer vacation automobile trip in California, this author met several bright and friendly young people who by their lives illustrate America’s continuing position as the land of opportunity.

In a small town on a highway between Los Angeles and Lake Tahoe, Susanna was working as a retail sales clerk in a drugstore. Susanna was born in Mexico, and brought by her parents to California at age twelve. Susanna was entering the local community college in the fall and planned to go on to work for a degree at a four year college.

In an isolated community of 800 people, one place of business was busy and operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is a combination Mobil gasoline station and convenience store. The proprietors are from the Punjab in extreme northwest India. The family lives in a home on the same property as the business. A son and daughter work in the business during summer vacations from school. The son, Navjot, attends a well-respected liberal arts and engineering college in Connecticut; his sister, Malkeet, is studying at a large state university in California.

Immigrants from the Indian sub-continent operate small businesses throughout America, in major cities, small towns, and out of the way spots on highways. Thirty-five miles down the highway from the Mobil station and convenience store there is a Shell Oil gasoline station, convenience store and fast food restaurant operated by immigrants from India.

In a restaurant in a mid-size city in California’s central valley, the author was offered coffee and a welcoming smile by Kristine, a young African-American woman of college age. Kristine is enrolled in the local community college. When asked about her plans for the future she smiled and said “onward and upward.” Specifically, she plans to continue her college education at the local branch of the state university system.

Patrick Soon-Shiong was born in South Africa to Chinese immigrant parents who fled to South Africa from Guangdong, China during World War II. Patrick graduated from medical school in South Africa and did his internship there. Subsequently, he moved to Vancouver, Canada where he earned the Master of Science degree and several prestigious awards for academic and medical excellence. Patrick moved on to America, where he trained in surgery at UCLA School of Medicine in Los Angeles, and became board certified in surgery. Patrick was on the faculty of UCLA Medical School for a number of years when he was still in his 30s. He is a highly acclaimed innovator of pioneering medical technologies, including use of nanotechnology for treatment of cancer. He founded and sold two multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies and then returned to UCLA Medical School as a professor of microbiology, immunology, molecular genetics, and bioengineering. Patrick is also a philanthropist whose charitable giving includes $135 million to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California. America is lucky to have Patrick. He has done far more to benefit America and the whole world than is mentioned in this brief biographical sketch. ¹

In 1956, Andrew Grove escaped from Hungary at the age of 20, during the 1956 uprising against communist rule. He moved to America. Soon after arriving in America Grove met his future wife, who was a fellow refugee. They met while he held a job as a busboy and she was a waitress. Grove earned advanced degrees in science at American universities. He was a pioneer in the development of semiconductor and microcircuit technology that drove the enormous growth of the computer industry. At age 32 Grove joined the founders of Intel Corporation where at first he was director of engineering and eventually became president, CEO, and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Grove helped Intel become the world’s largest manufacturer of semiconductors. ²

Andrew J. Galambos, whose ideas inspire this website, was also an immigrant. His parents brought him to America from Budapest, Hungary, when Andrew was two years old. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics, taught physics and mathematics in several colleges, and in 1961, operating under the name “The Free Enterprise Institute,” established himself as a teacher of freedom and science. The market for Galambos’ lectures and ideas grew to 20,000 people due to their originality and illuminating content  and due also to the presentations of the lectures by Galambos’ able colleague, Jay Snelson. ³