> If there such a thing as American exceptionalism, if the USA has an edge, it is immigration

You’re conflating cause and effect. The U.S. has had high immigration because it’s exceptional, not the other way around. The U.S. GDP/capita was head and shoulders above everyone except Great Britain by 1801: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/bdvazr/top.... That was before even the German mass migration.

Silicon Valley arose during the 1950s and 1960, during a period of very low foreign born population in California: https://www.ppic.org/publication/immigrants-in-california/

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FreakLegion 2 hours ago | parent [-]

At least five of the traitorous eight were immigrants or children of immigrants, but do go on.

	▲	chickenzzzzu an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Why can't existing American businesses invest in these individuals while they live abroad, and then the US government can tax the profits the investors make? Why must it be that they must live here, taking desk jobs and barista jobs from Americans? How many hundreds of thousands of Shockleys got their start working as baristas, nurses, and mechanics (yes I know they are not H1B)? Do you believe that any American who fails to compete with the entire world deserves it? Why can't I move to India and become Shockley over there?