The discussion 70 minutes into the March 8th podcast prompts me to ask again:
Given open borders, what will keep America from eventually reaching the same
population density as India or China? And will that many poor immigrants act differently in political terms than they did in their old country, or would they turn the country just as Socialist as India or China?
I have to take a minarchist position on immigration, unfortunately. There is such a thing as a nation-state, at least for now, not because it's a good idea but because other parts of the world believe in it. That doesn't mean another country would roll in the tanks, but there are other ways to annex territory and resources. Remember what the British Empire did to China leading up to the
Opium Wars? They would LOVE, LOVE to do the same thing to us!
I do believe in large-scale immigration, but it should be merit-based. If Japan prefers millionaires and Ph.D's and we let in anyone who can swim the Rio Grande, their average IQ (and other per-capita indicators) would rise even more significantly above ours! I say: anyone wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt should be stopped at the border!