Open Borders Day

Today is Open Borders Day. Those of us who believe in open borders believe that people should not be condemned by the accident of the location of their birth to poverty and oppression. The Constitution of the United States of America was created in no small part for the express purpose of creating open borders among the various states -- borders open to the free movement of people and goods. Until the 20th century, the U.S. pretty much had open borders. Thus, there is nothing more un-American than opposition to open borders. And there is nothing more un-American than believing that we should exclude people because they won't "fit in." Who doesn't fit in to a multicultural, pluralist, cosmopolitan country? Freedom of movement is central to liberty. If you are free to move, you are free to go to places you think are better than where you are currently living. Unless you can threaten to leave, freedom of speech has little power. "Change or else I'll leave!" That has power. Consider the situation of depopulated places like Detroit. Detroit is in a crisis because the government was corrupt and wouldn't change, and people voted with their feet. When the power monopoly in Detroit is broken, it will have hope -- for people will stay and, just as importantly, people will move in. If we want the world to become freer and, thus, more prosperous, we need to tear down borders and allow the free movement of people and goods. Then we will see governments creating the conditions for people to want to move there. Any person who wants socialism can move to a socialist country -- and any in that country who do not want socialism should be allowed to leave. The same with various other forms of government, governance, and political economy. And the U.S. ought to be on the forefront of that, by allowing for the free movement of people into and out of our country, and by radically decentralizing the country's power so that people can move within this country to places governed as they prefer. If Massachusetts wants to be the Socialist State of the U.S.A., more power to them. Just don't force it on any of the rest of the states. Is New Hampshire wants to be a libertarian utopia, let them. And let us see where the chips fall. The fact that so many people don't want that to happen says volumes.