Mr. Quick, riffing off an immigration piece at Reason, pretty much says exactly what I would say, although I have … more … to … say:
In other words, the very thing that defines nation-states – their borders – should not, in the eyes of Big-L Libertarians, be permitted to exist. Dahlmia is, in a word, dishonest here, not just in his contentions, but in his refusal to acknowledge the many, many problems created for us by mass illegal immigration. He does it in service to his ideology, the very same ideology that proclaims itself as being so much more pure and honest than those espoused by the traditional left and right.
Which is yet another reason why, as I’ve said so many times before, I am not a Big-L Libertarian, nor am I ever likely to become so.
via Libertarian Lies Of Commission and Omission On Immigration | Daily Pundit.
Like Mr. Quick, this perverted view of immigration is the reason I’ll never be a Big-L Libertarian. I have a couple of reasons for this.
The first reason – and I suspect this has as much to do with the Classicist in me as any knee-jerk ‘Murrica, parochial view – is that I think citizenship and legal immigration status in this country, of all countries, should be earned. Do you pay taxes? Can you speak English? Do you contribute? Have you served the country in our military? Do you own property? Do you vote in local elections? Are you a net drain or a net contributor from/to our tax base? You, enlightened reader, could come up with other things, but America is not an ethnic republic, we are a democratic one where the vote – not the blood – should matter. To wit: what do you, potential citizen or legal immigrant, have to offer to the fold?
My view is, at this point, irrelevant and antiquated and would be deemed as racist (or at least racialist, I guess) – it’s never going to happen. Having a job or owning property or serving in the military will never be requirements for citizenship in this country – the idea of contributing to a common cause is heresy among a large swath of Americans at this point, so I admit my cause is lost.
The second view – purely, crassly political – is that legalizing millions of illegal/undocumented alines/immigrants/visitors/workers et al is just a ploy to empower the Donkey Party, our nation’s political parallel to organized crime. I always quote my modern, intellectual hero Thomas Sowell on this one: Republicans are disappointing, but Democrats are dangerous.
Finally, just as a matter of common sense, our nation should not only enforce its borders – especially its southern border, the one that we’re actually talking about here – it should feel no shame for doing so. But that’s a different story for a different time – shame is the reflex amoral progressives use to convince weak-spined “conservatives” that their personal suicide is actually the morally correct position.
I do think there is something to the Big L argument that if more Americans aren’t going to have kids then we need to import a whole bunch more young people if we want to have much of an economy. There are “jobs Americans won’t do” and then there are “jobs there aren’t enough young Americans to do”.
Also, if I can find somebody from Mexico willing to do a job for me cheaper than somebody from America will do it while providing similar or superior quality, there needs to be a relatively hassle free way for me to facilitate that.
Also, there this: If you read the official Libertarian Party platform on immigration, compare it to the official Republican Party platform on immigration, remove the rhetorical flourishes… there aren’t a ton of differences and mostof the ones that exist could probably get significant support from the other side. It’s just a matter of which rhetorical flourish you’d rather have jerking you off.
http://www.lp.org/issues/immigration
http://www.gop.com/2012-republican-platform_reforming/#Item10
Eric,
Why are you externalizing the negative costs on me so you can get cheap labor? I thought libertardians were against force and fraud, both of which you are participaing in against me.
Ask a Native American how well unrestricted immigration worked out for them.