Expatpol - W-wski portal jedynie suusznej polonii

Expatpol - W-wski portal jedynie suusznej polonii: "What particularly bothers me about this Agenda is its lack of honesty in its attempt to sell as "Polish American" a package of benefits that almost exclusively serves the interests of Poland - a separate and now free foreign country located in Europe, and recently a new member of the European Union. Out of the seven points of the Agenda, only two, No. 2 and No. 7, have any direct relationship to the interests of American citizens of Polish descent living in the United States, where No. 7 is hopelessly vague and No. 2 may still be perceived as a reflection of personal ambitions of the backers of the Agenda, not necessarily of the needs of the Polish American community at large (more about this below). I am concerned that others, including the politicians it is presented to, may be justified in seeing this Agenda as a rather blatant lobbying effort on behalf of a foreign government and will not only dismiss it, but may generalize their distaste at being conned toward our entire ethnic group and may start questioning en bloc our loyalty and motives.

I see preciously little justification for sticking out our necks for Poland after its government has been displaying for a number of years a particularly arrogant and patronizing attitude toward Polish Americans. I am higly disturbed by the fact that the Polish government does not recognize our American citizenship and it insists that Polish Americans are in fact Polish citizens who should travel internationally using Polish passports. Those of us who were born in Poland are particularly at risk of being exposed to a campaign of crude threats and harassment while visiting our relatives in Poland on a US passport and many individuals were simply interned - prevented from leaving Poland until they obtained a Polish passport. On the other hand, it is not possible to be released of this undesirable "citizenship" since the relevant bureaucratic procedure is virtually impossible to complete - as concurred by a number of court decisions in the US and elsewhere. Those who yield to this pressure and obtain a Polish passport end up in even deeper troubles - they are now ineligible for US security clearance and will be excluded from many high paying jobs in the government, military, and the technology sector.

Why should then these Polish Americans be willing to help Poland if its government is harassing them and sabotaging their careers? Many Americans of Polish descent are very successful in science, technology, and business - the assistance of such people could address points No. 1 and No. 4 of the Agenda: instead of having to ask the US for handouts, Poland could start utilizing the resources of its accomplished expatriates toward economic and technological development. And yet these are the very same people whom the government of Poland chooses to insult and harass because they prefer to see themselves as citizens of the United States. This is a perfect illustration of the fundamental inability of those in power in Warsaw to start acting in a rational and pragmatic way and to harness the opportunities that already exist. Given such irrationality of the government of Poland (and aside from its many other vices, such as corruption and incompetence) it is doubtful whether Poland will be able to utilize any assistance it receives.

Going back to point No. 2 of the Agenda, a good way of increasing the number of qualified Polish Americans in public office would be to prevent the government of Poland from disqualifying our people from obtaining security clearance by selling them Polish passports. This problem particularly affects the recent wave of post-Solidarity immigrants, who may be too sentimental, too naive, or too passive to resist the pressure of the government of Poland and may inadvertently destroy their own careers or jeopardize the careers of their children. I don't believe that we need any "affirmative action" for Polish American politicians and I don't think that the goal of increasing the number of qualified Polish Americans in public office will be helped by engaging in blatant lobbying efforts on behalf of the government of Poland. Such transparent lobbying for foreign interests will not gain the trust or the respect of the public and will only discredit those who believe that they can fool anyone by attaching the words "Polish American" to a shopping list of a corrupt and incompetent foreign government. Which is what I sincerely hope will happen to the authors of the Agenda, as I would not like to see such biased individuals in the government of my country."