If we want to be a nation of "free men", then let us return to the arguments of Milton Friedman, who outlined some unusual and unique insights on pressing issues today. If Republicans and conservatives remember and reintegrate some of the values of the free-market economist, then they can turn a stunning defeat from last Tuesday into certain victory for the future.
The paradox of immigration starts with the perceived problems with the issue now compared to one hundred years ago. One hundred years ago, individuals would enter this country and get a health check up. They would file paperwork, receive passports, then become citizens just like that. Up until 1914, no one in the United States complained about an immigration problem in this country. Now, there is nothing but uproar and race-bating over this issue. What happened over the past century? The welfare state, with its growing entitlement burden which immigrants can take advantage of, along with a growing class of dependents who have not received adequate training and preparation to get back on their feet.
Ironically enough, Friedman claimed that illegal Mexican immigration is good for us, because people who come into the United States illegally do not qualify for entitlements. Illegal immigration is good. They will migrate to jobs that most Americans refuse to take. They provide work that helps businesses in this country. They prefer to live in this country with its opportunities rather than live in Mexico as citizens cursed with poverty and danger.
Bad laws make socially advantageous acts illegal, and thus undermines the morality of a community altogether. Open borders with closed welfare rolls is the way to go.
Responding to one student in a forum on this issue, Friedman pointed out that only on the surface Mexican immigrants have two bad choice. The lack of capital and free markets and the rule of law in their home country induces them to leave and seek a better life elsewhere. The immigrants are coming to California because they are looking for a better life, and working in the fields of Central California is a palatial option compared to living in the failed welfare-warfare state South of the Rio Grande.
No oneshould not condemn immigrants by expecting that the state provide them the same level of life which Californians expect for themselves. The arrogant elitism which shamefully drives our political class to pave their way into this country will only hurt the state more.
"It is one thing to have free immigration to jobs. It is another thing to have free immigration to welfare. You can't have both."
If you have a welfare state in which people are promised a certain level of subsistence, then you are inviting more illegal immigration into the country. Another Republican, Texas Congressman and former Presidential Candidate Ron Paul, does not support a border fence. He famously denounced that our country has more forces along the Afghani-Pakistani border than along the Southern border of the United States. Instead, he attacks the overgenerous public subsidies. Get rid of benefits, he argues. Hospitals can be charitable to individuals who come into this country and need care, but illegal immigrants should not have access to our public schools. Even Mexico requires enrollees to prove citizenship.
Most politicians, if they have any sense, want a free and healthy and thriving country with legal immigration. No one should reward people for coming in illegally.
Paul has also advocated getting rid of the birth-right law in the Fourteenth Amendment. Passed originally to secure the civil rights of recently enfranchised African-Americans, the law has now permitted individuals to cross the border and give birth to their children on American soil, thus permitting them to become American citizens. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid originally advocated reforming this provision of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Here are a list of reforms which will encourage legal immigration while protecting the citizens of this country, both born and naturalized. Deport the ones who are here illegally. Deny benefits to immigrants and deport the ones who commit crimes. End the outrageous policy of sanctuary cities. Stop with this political correctness that refuses to hold every person living in this country to the standard of the rule of law.
Libertarian journalist John Stossel also presses for open borders, but not with the welfare state.
His colleagues in one forum suggests that immigrants who receive a college education with their Student Visas should also receive a Green Card. Attack the entitlement programs, and 90% of the argument would be gone about illegal immigration.
There is a solution to the immigration problem in the United States, conservative without being craven or cowering to PC interests or identity politics. Conservatives, Republicans must heed Friedman on this issue. Attack the entitlements, not the people, and the immigration will be solved.
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