Nathan Smith Quotes
The open borders position may sound new and radical, but it is simply a call for the return of lost liberties. When the Statue of Liberty was erected in 1886, most of the world’s borders could be freely crossed without passports. Passport requirements had sometimes existed before and were still in place in backward Tsarist Russia, but the more liberal governments of advanced European nations regulated migration, as modern democracies regulate speech, only rather lightly and in exceptional cases, if at all. Comprehensive restrictions on international movement, which almost everyone today regards as a normal and necessary government function, are really an innovation of the twentieth century, which emerged as liberalism gave way to nationalism and socialism in the wake of World War I. Although the reasons for border control were The open borders position may sound new and radical, but it is simply a call for the return of lost liberties. When the Statue of Liberty was erected in 1886, most of the world’s borders could be freely crossed without passports. Passport requirements had sometimes existed before and were still in place in backward tsarist Russia, but the more liberal governments of advanced European nations regulated migration, as modern democracies regulate speech, only rather lightly and in exceptional cases, if at all. Comprehensive restrictions on international movement, which almost everyone today regards as a normal and necessary government function, are really an innovation of the twentieth century, which emerged as liberalism gave way to nationalism and socialism in the wake of World War I. Although the reasons for border control were often explicitly racist—such as the national origins quotas of the 1924 U.S. Immigration Act—the restrictions were also motivated by bona fide national security concerns, as well as a desire to protect native wages and welfare states from immigrant competition and foreign dependents.
Most Americans do not realize that for most of Amrcan history there has been open borders with little or no restrcition on immigration. These that there were tend to be rembered becuse of the populism, nativism and unrest taht went with them.
Nathan Smith, "A World Without Borders: Richer, Fairer, and More Free", February 28, 2017
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
“Service” referred to what was then the 7 year time of apprenticeship that a typical American apprentice was required to work for a master tradesman before he was given colonial citizenship and allowed to trade for himself. Under the bill that was passed anyone could come to the British American colonies (except Jews) by taking an oath of allegiance and paying a small fee. Holland and some thought that it discriminated against those apprentices who had come before and apprenticed themselves thus “playing by the rules.” Ever since, immigration and citizenship debates have faced the tension between the need for labor in America and the fairness to the people who had followed the earlier existing rules restricting immigration.
The Jews and Arabs for years shared Palestine. But the Jews spread out over the world, becoming modern and Westernized in the process. When the Jews returned to Palestine as a part of the Zionist movement, they were more modern, Westernized, and culturally at odds with their old Arab cousins, whose cultures had atrophied. The Arabs resented the Westernized culture that was being introduced into the Middle East. One point of view is that had Israel not tried to introduce moderism and Western ideas into the Middle East, the Jewish State might have been more accepted. However, not only did they bring a foreign perspective (democracy), education and techmology and capitalism to the area, but they far outpassed the Arab nations in agriculture, industry, science, medicine and general standard of living. The Arab dictators and monarchs had always had the excuse for poverty that the land was so poor that it simply could not be developed, but Israel developed the worst of the land in the area with no oil or natural resources. Every day of Israeli prosperity and scientific achievement was an embarassment for the rest of the Middle East where even the rich oil countries were not improving the lot of the average citizen.
between Mexico and the United States The first non-PRI President in over 70 years.
Nathan Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor of business administration/finance and economics, has been publishing regularly. Work in 2013 includes: Bring Back the Gilded Age, Part One and Part Two at The Freeman Competition and Free Thought: Friedman, Mill, and Educational Choice at The Freeman Arena on Immigration at The Freeman Calling the Keynesians' Bluff at The American Why Erasing All the World's Borders Would Double GDP at The Daily Good Also look for regular blog posts at openborders.info
