What
does
it
mean
to
be
an
American?
We
all
have
different
answers
to
that
question.
I’ve
read
a
lot
of
history
and
thought
a
lot
about
it,
so
maybe
my
response
is
as
good
as
any.
I
would
say
Americans
believe
that
we
all
should
have
the
opportunity,
through
the
strength
of
our
backs
and
the
sweat
of
our
brows
and
the
power
of
our
intellects,
to
build
something
for
ourselves.
No
monarch,
no
nobleman,
no
archbishop,
no
tycoon
gets
to
command
us
on
how
we
are
going
to
live
our
lives.
We
all,
collectively,
get
to
choose
our
leaders.
We
have
rights,
and
we
recognize
the
rights
of
our
fellow
Americans,
even
when
we
disagree
with
them.
Or,
I
guess,
you
can
just
buy
your
way
in
no
matter
what
you
believe
and
regardless
of
how
you
acquired
your
money.
At
least
that’s
what
Donald
Trump
is
proposing
with
his
new
$5
million
“gold
card”
visa
for
rich
immigrants.
“If
we
sell
a
million,
that’s
$5
trillion,”
Trump
said
of
this
proposal
during
the
first
Cabinet
meeting
of
his
second
term.
Look,
don’t
blame
me
if
you
don’t
like
the
wording:
Trump
himself
said
he
wants
to
“sell”
American
citizenship,
repeatedly.
“I
think
we
will
sell
a
lot,”
Trump
added.
A
whole
lot,
apparently.
Trump
speculated
that
the
federal
government
could
sell
as
many
as
10
million
of
his
“gold
card”
visas
for
rich
immigrants
and
use
the
proceeds
to
offset
the
deficit.
“It’s
a
road
to
citizenship
for
people,
and
essentially
people
of
wealth
or
people
of
great
talent,
where
people
of
wealth
pay
for
those
people
of
talent
to
get
in,”
Trump
went
on.
The
United
States,
along
with
more
than
100
other
countries
around
the
globe,
does
currently
offer
investor
visas
under
limited
circumstances
for
wealthy
immigrants
who
will
create
jobs
upon
their
arrival.
The
EB-5
visa,
which
Trump
says
his
“gold
card”
visa
will
replace,
requires
immigrant
investors
to
invest
a
minimum
of
approximately
$1
million
in
an
American
company
that
employs
at
least
10
people.
The
EB-5
program
requires
verification
that
funds
were
obtained
legally
(which
is,
admittedly,
a
difficult
thing
to
verify),
and
unlike
Trump’s
proposed
“gold
card”
visa,
does
not
automatically
include
any
pathway
to
citizenship.
A
limited
number
of
EB-5
visas
—
in
fiscal
year
2022,
for
example,
about
8,000
people
obtained
them
—
are
available.
When
asked
whether
there
would
be
restrictions
on
Chinese
or
Iranian
nationals
purchasing
citizenship
through
the
“gold
card”
visa
program,
Trump
indicated
there
would
not
be
many
restrictions
in
terms
of
country
of
origin.
When
asked
whether
he
might
sell
citizenship
to
Russian
oligarchs
through
the
“gold
card”
visa
program,
Trump
said,
“Yeah,
possibly.
I
know
some
Russian
oligarchs
that
are
very
nice
people.”
Doesn’t
it
sound
fantastic
to
you
to
import
an
extremely
wealthy
overclass
of
10
million
foreigners
into
this
country
who
cheated,
stole,
murdered,
or
(even
worse)
inherited
their
way
to
fortune
so
we
can
all
serve
them?
Let’s
maybe
Make
America
Victorian
England
Again.
MAVEA?
We’ll
work
on
that.
Look,
I’m
not
here
to
necessarily
defend
the
existing
EB-5
program
or
any
of
the
other
legal
means
through
which
America
has
welcomed
immigrants
to
her
shores
over
the
years.
What
I
am
saying
is
that
just
selling
American
citizenship
to
anyone
who
rolls
up
with
a
briefcase
full
of
$5
million
in
cash
is
wrong.
Consider,
for
a
moment,
why
anyone
who
made
$5
million
abroad
in
a
legitimate
fashion
would
want
to
surrender
it
in
order
to
come
here.
You
might
think,
if
such
a
person’s
fortune
wasn’t
balanced
on
a
knife
edge
because
it
came
from
drugs
or
money
laundering
or
anything
else
that
left
them
in
a
state
of
precarity
at
home,
that
they
would
want
to
stay
where
they
were
and
keep
reaping
the
benefits
of
whatever
country
they
are
in
that
has
already
been
very
good
to
them.
Immigrants
generally
want
to
come
to
America
because
of
the
opportunities
available
here;
the
only
opportunity
someone
who
already
has
$5
million
to
blow
needs
is
the
opportunity
to
evade
local
law
enforcement.
Nobody
starts
on
equal
footing
in
America.
Yet,
the
most
determined
among
us
—
through
grit,
through
toughness,
through
luck
—
overcome
their
disadvantages.
That’s
the
American
story.
I
don’t
want
to
work
for
someone
who
didn’t
earn
what
they
have.
I
also
don’t
need
foreigners
to
come
in
and
pay
down
the
deficit
of
the
richest
country
in
the
world,
thank
you
very
much.
Well,
nobody
asked
what
I
want,
and
I
guess
we
might
soon
have
a
lot
more
rich
people
from
other
countries
here
in
America.
Thanks
for
another
great
policy
proposal
MAGA
supporters.
Enjoy
your
new
overlords.
Jonathan
Wolf
is
a
civil
litigator
and
author
of Your
Debt-Free
JD
(affiliate
link).
He
has
taught
legal
writing,
written
for
a
wide
variety
of
publications,
and
made
it
both
his
business
and
his
pleasure
to
be
financially
and
scientifically
literate.
Any
views
he
expresses
are
probably
pure
gold,
but
are
nonetheless
solely
his
own
and
should
not
be
attributed
to
any
organization
with
which
he
is
affiliated.
He
wouldn’t
want
to
share
the
credit
anyway.
He
can
be
reached
at [email protected].