6 ms·

The right wing in the U.S. wants more control over immigration, not an end. The real question is "How did we come to be so certain that open borders are our sa

The right wing in the U.S. wants more control over immigration, not an end. The real question is "How did we come to be so certain that open borders are our salvation?"

dllthomas 12y ago
"Open borders" was the historical situation for much of US history. It's comparatively recently that we've been closing them with anything like effectiveness. That said, the nature of "open borders" changes as transportation becomes easier, which it did dramatically over that period.
ThomPete 12y ago
Isn't something like 40% of USA fortune 500 companies started by immigrants?
- finid 12y ago
  The percentage of startups founded or co-founded by immigrants should be about the same or higher.
- fiatmoney 12y ago
  Immigrants from where? And how does this compare to the distribution of people who would like to move to the US, given open borders?
MisterBastahrd 12y ago
The right wing in the US has been programmed to be eternally afraid of the "other," regardless of what form it takes. Ingenuity is diminished when you try to filter out different perspectives.
MJuliusKing 12y ago
From the beginning of the post: "One puzzling thing I notice about debating immigration is how certain people often are that strictly restricting immigration is the right policy." He's talking about people who support significant controls on immigration, which is the current policy and the direction which some people want to move further in. Lee's not just addressing people who want to end immigration. The substantive argument he's making is that significant controls on immigration are bad.