Hey, I’d love to vote 🙄
I can’t vote in the US Presidential election of November, 2024 because I am a generation away from being American. My mother, grandmother and so on back to some direct ancestors who came to the North American colonies very early on were Americans (or colonists). One of my direct ancestors was the still famous Deacon Samuel D.s Chapin, born in England in 1598 and died a powerful man in The Colony of Massachusetts Bay having immigrated there in about 1630 with his big family. Here is his statue (the reason people know him still and think of him as the archetypical Puritan)...
Genealogy is fun. And my ‘tree’ shows a lot of immigration through the centuries including from France to England back in 1066.
But today immigration is a thorny problem in many of the wealthier countries, and, in a related but different way, in the have-not countries of this world. I am an immigrant to New Zealand having been born in Canada. My mother was an immigrant to Canada, born in the US. My husband, born in the UK, immigrated to New Zealand ... and I could go on.
Immigration was a huge impetus behind Brexit (when the UK separated from the rest of Europe) and it looks like, yet again, it’s a political football in the US presidential elections coming up later in 2024.
Sigh.
I have always loved the idea of a meritocracy – a political system where an individual can rise in society to a level commensurate with their talents and abilities, not who their ancestors were. The wonderful thing about immigration is that people who have been oppressed in some totalitarian regimes may very well have hidden talents that can flourish once living in a meritocracy. As so many of my ancestors did after immigration.
And, maybe, me too.
EBOOK DEALS coming up!
Smashwords ‘Read an Ebook Week’ starts March 3rd and lasts until March 9th. All books are discounted including many of mine at 50% off. Have a look. You are bound to discover some interesting books at great prices! https://smashwords.com/shelves/promos
If you’re interested in any of my books specifically [especially if you love to binge read one author’s writings... ;) ], here are the URLs for them at 50% off – for several of them, 50% of an already discounted price. Remember the dates: March 3rd to March 9th.
Bye Baby Bunting : Click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/270800
The Pumpkin Eater’s Wife: Click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/724289
Half Truths and Whole Lies: Click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/724070
Thursday’s Child: Click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/771383
The Drowned Canoe: Click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1510431
A Swimmer is Dead: Click here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1500655
Happy reading, everyone,