Ancaps often declare, "All rights are property rights." I was thinking about this the other day, in the context of running into libertarians online who insisted that libertarianism supports "the freedom of movement," and realized that this principle actually entails that people without property have no rights at all, let alone any right to "freedom of movement." Of course, immediately, any ancap readers still left here are going to say, "Wait a second! Everyone owns his own body! And so everyone at least has the right to not have his body interfered with." Well, that is true... except that in ancapistan, one has no right to any place to put that body, except if one owns property, or has the permission of at least one property owner to place that body on her land. So, if one is landless and penniless, one had sure better hope that there are kindly disposed property owners aligned in a corridor from wherever one happens to be to wherever the...
One thing I've been confused about is what an "open borders" policy would entail. America has no immigration quotas today, so that would seem like open borders to me, but that can't be the case, otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it. So would open borders involve something like zero walls and zero checkpoints, or would it have those but with lax entrance policies?
ReplyDeleteSamson I think you aren't seeing things well since having your eyes plucked out. In his first year in office, the Obama Administration deported more than 200,000 people. (His claim to fame is that the # has dropped each year.)
DeleteSamson I think you aren't seeing things well since having your eyes plucked out. In his first year in office, the Obama Administration deported more than 200,000 people. (His claim to fame is that the # has dropped each year.)
DeleteNo, no, no. I wasn't speaking of deportation quotas. I was speaking of quotas that limit the yearly number of migrants coming in from specified countries. Aside from not mentioning Obama, I was not talking about illegal immigration.
Bad news Gene. I agree almost perfectly. I disagree about what hard line open borders advocates such as Caplan want. Caplan would love to see American culture destroyed.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to be generous, but I suspect you are right.
DeleteHave you seen Bob's response to your article?
ReplyDeletemises.ca/posts/blog/private-property-the-only-real-solution-on-immigration/
It attempts to use a quote from one of your old papers against you.
Believe me, he sent me the link, I think about five seconds after it was published.
DeleteIn bangles the nutrition analogy: the "body" into which immigrants enter is the "body politic." So Bob's suggested solution is like saying: "don't try central planning by you deciding how much to eat! Let each cell decide on it's own!"
Oops, dictating: "he mangles."
DeleteI read Bob's response to your article on immigration. It struck me as "Break the current state down into millions of smaller states.". How that's a solution, I don't know.
ReplyDelete