If you’re a libertarian, you should endorse open borders. Here’s why.I always thought that libertarianism was all about rights, but I only recently learned that is not the case. Many adopt utilitarianism. Under their theory, if you buy a toy for your child, but then encounter another child who would get more happiness from the toy, then you are morally bound to give the toy to the other child. The idea is to do whatever most increases the total happiness of the world.
Libertarians prize individual liberty. According to libertarians, we have rights to associate with others as we see fit and engage in economic transactions with them. These rights are constraints on state action. Libertarians think it is unjust for states to infringe on individual rights even in order to bring about socially beneficial outcomes. States certainly can’t violate our rights to protect some of us from economic competition or shield our cultures from change.
These commitments should lead libertarians to oppose immigration restrictions. When states restrict immigration, they stop you from associating with foreigners and engaging in many mutually beneficial economic exchanges with them. ...
Some libertarians reject rights-talk. They use more utilitarian reasoning to evaluate public policy. And these libertarians also have a good reason to oppose at least actual immigration restrictions. The same arguments that justify free trade apply to immigration. More immigration increases the division of labor and immigrants help generate more wealth.
So, if individuals have rights to private property, then we should reject the view that the United States is the collective property of its government or citizens.A nation or a corporation is not just the sum of its individuals. Similar reasoning would reject that Microsoft or General Motors could own anything. We could never have modern civilization if such reasoning prevailed.
Maybe you’re concerned that immigration will change the national culture in bad ways. Immigrants bring new and occasionally upsetting cultural norms and customs with them. But you lack a right to freeze cultural change. ... Sure, immigration brings about cultural change. Deal with it. ... As an aside, I’m more worried about my fellow citizens [link to Donald Trump] destroying valuable institutions — not immigrants!Libertarianism is apparently some sort of suicide pact. Even if immigration destroy the nation, the Libertarians will say "deal with it" and refuse to do anything.
The primary concern of most American Libertarians is dope-smoking. They want to sit back, and let America be invaded by immigrants who are not libertarians at all. They do not even believe in most of the freedoms that Americans take for granted.
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