Reply #145: Why is open borders crazy?

[okie]

You seem to be admitting that the alternative, 'sensible' policy is just to outlaw certain people from crossing over for no good reason at all. It's incredibly easy to just say we have no obligations to Mexicans when our policies profoundly affect the lives of the people who end up crossing the border illegally. We know, for example, our corn subsidies have incredibly damaging effects on Mexican agricultural workers, but addressing that issue requires us to ask uncomfortable questions about the structure of the American economy, and the fairness of our trade agreements and the operations of the international organizations in which we wield tremendous influence (ie. the IMF). I don't see how the 'sensible' ones have much in solutions for these problems.

I'm reminded of that slogan from the social upheavals in 1968 France, 'Be realistic, demand the impossible.' I think, that if the 'realistic' options don't solve anything, maybe that says more about how crazy those options are - how crazy the system in which those options operate really is - than how crazy the radical ideas are.