(At the risk of wading into a topic that can easily go off the rails, I'll preface this by saying that I'm absolutely in the minority here, but...)
I really wouldn't have a problem with open borders at all. In fact, I think it makes sense from a humanitarian and an economic perspective.
We have open borders between and among the states in the U.S. and it works great. Same goes for the E.U. And the internet is basically a giant borderless market for information. I'd even go so far as to say that the internet has suffered real harm over the last decade or so as governments have been forcing internet service providers to arbitrarily "recognize" borders more frequently.
Free trade is good economic policy. Why does that somehow not apply when it comes to the free movement of people? And for the most part we actually do allow "people" to freely cross borders - as long as they're a legal person and not a natural person. A corporation can enter just about any market with an afternoon's worth of paperwork.
I'm just not sure I see the distinction that justifies the free movement of information, goods, and services but not the free movement of labor.
And, of course, economics aside, I'm one of those "crazy" people who believes that if we have the means to help someone, we should. If we have the choice between showing hospitality or hostility to an uninvited guest I'd much rather take the opportunity to make a new friend.
(At the risk of wading into a topic that can easily go off the rails, I'll preface this by saying that I'm absolutely in the minority here, but...)
I really wouldn't have a problem with open borders at all. In fact, I think it makes sense from a humanitarian and an economic perspective.
We have open borders between and among the states in the U.S. and it works great. Same goes for the E.U. And the internet is basically a giant borderless market for information. I'd even go so far as to say that the internet has suffered real harm over the last decade or so as governments have been forcing internet service providers to arbitrarily "recognize" borders more frequently.
Free trade is good economic policy. Why does that somehow not apply when it comes to the free movement of people? And for the most part we actually do allow "people" to freely cross borders - as long as they're a legal person and not a natural person. A corporation can enter just about any market with an afternoon's worth of paperwork.
I'm just not sure I see the distinction that justifies the free movement of information, goods, and services but not the free movement of labor.
And, of course, economics aside, I'm one of those "crazy" people who believes that if we have the means to help someone, we should. If we have the choice between showing hospitality or hostility to an uninvited guest I'd much rather take the opportunity to make a new friend.