Political Arena still same after 150+ years
You can't help but notice that politics are still run the same now as in the era of Gangs of New York.
shareYes, very good observation. We can totally imagine Jim Broadbent (William 'Boss' Tweed character) as a typical modern day Democrat party politician wanting to bring in as many undocumented immigrants as he can to get their votes . Especially when he looks at their dead bodies after the riots and says "so many votes lost ".
sharebrownneck, that's a bad analogy. The Irish immigrants in the film were not illegal immigrants. They were legal American citizens. As long as the men in the family agreed to fight for the Union, the entire family got citizenship. In fact, the Union may not have won the war without the help of the Irish immigrants. Think of all the trouble that would have entailed. Tweed says they contributed votes, when really they helped save the Union.
shareThis was not a knock on immigrants, but on the political machinery. At the end of the day, the people standing at the doorstep of the country are more valuable to the politician than who is already here. That was the analogy I was taking about
Your points on Irish immigrants being granted citizenship for participation in war is valid and similar rules exist now as well, there is a fast track to citizenship if an immigrant can join the armed forces. But that was not the analogy I was taking about.
I think applying for the service gets you a green card but that can include the reserve forces. Four years actual service get's you citizenship. However back then did you actually have to do anything? Wasn't this still around the time of 'Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...'?
I've had a lot of sobering thoughts in my time Del Boy, it's them that started me drinking!