Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “Where Education and Assimilation Collide” (“Remade in America” series, front page, March 15):

Congratulations for turning the spotlight on immigration with your series. Its principal focus should be on the long-term implications.

Thanks largely to immigration trends, the United States is on track to grow from 306 million today to 439 million by 2050, an increase in population with enormous implications for water scarcity, social cohesion, quality of life, educational attainment, the environment and our dependence on oil.

The critical question is not whether the country can absorb current levels of immigration in 2009, but whether it can do so in the long run. We may live in the moment, but future generations are condemned to living in the future. Let’s ensure that it’s a sustainable future.

Richard D. Lamm
Denver, March 15, 2009
The writer was governor of Colorado, 1975-87.

Note from KBJ: I was born in 1957. I'm glad I'll be dead by 2050. This country is going to hell in a handbasket. I am fortunate to have lived in the best place, at the best time, in human history.