Libertarian Perspectives on Immigration
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By: Noah Clarke.
There are lots of things I do not understand in the political and ideological discussions, but the immigration debate has to top the list. During the last political campaign some politicians said they thought legal immigration was good for America -and I believe most candidates and voters hold similar positions.
Those same politicians and others running for office, however, think illegal immigration is bad for America. When asked why, the typical response is: “because it is illegal.” But legal immigration is good. So if we make all the illegals legal, then they would go from being bad for America to being good for it, right?
No. Apparently, legalizing illegal immigrants is bad because it is unfair to all the other people waiting in line to become legal immigrants. Again, if legal immigrants are good for America shouldn’t we try to process those in the line faster to let as many enter the country as soon as possible rather than adding all the illegals to an already long line?
More to the point, people jump lines all the time. At the airport, passengers late for their flights skip lines to rush for the gate. Those in the line do not protest because they realize that could be them one day and they want everyone to let us skip the line too. It would appear that jumping the line is ok if you are late for a flight, but it is terribly gauche if you want to feed your family in Mexico.
The solution, then, is to speed up the line and legalize those who have already jumped this line, right?
Wrong again. Letting too many immigrants into the country would put a strain on the welfare state.
According to the media, there aren’t enough workers to support all the future baby boom retirees. It would seem a good idea to add more workers. And besides, weren’t all these legal immigrants supposed to be good for America?
No, no, I’ve got it all wrong again. The issue is security. If all these immigrants come into the country, how are we going to secure the nation? Well, that sounds like a police issue to me. One option would be to stop wasting the police’s time having them arrest drug users and instead tell them to go after murderers and thieves. That would certainly improve security and free up space in our prisons.
This debate is absurd. Politicians invent reasonable sounding arguments as to why this immigrant is good for the country, but that immigrant is bad for the country. The logic, however, is weak and falls apart the minute anyone begins to question it. Immigrants built this country. To exclude them is to ignore our shared history and to misunderstand economics.
The division of labor, the secret to economic prosperity depends on having increasing numbers of people to do increasing numbers of jobs. The more specialized the economy becomes the more people you need to fill each new position. Eliminate half the population of the United States and our economy would crumble as software programmers were forced to reinvent themselves as farmers, financiers as carpenters. Everyone would have to shift to fill the jobs that consumers deemed most important to their survival. More people allows for a greater division of labor which, in turn, makes each of us more productive workers and the country as a whole more prosperous.
So remember, legal immigrants are good and illegal immigrants are bad, just don’t ask why.
August 24, 2009
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