The Demagogic Case for Open Borders

Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration is my most persuasive book. Anyone who closely reads the book loses, on average, about half of their opposition to immigration. Yet sadly, the absolute number of readers remains low. As a graphic novel, it only takes two hours to read, but that’s still asking too much.

Almost no one wants to actually read anything; if I’m lucky, they’ll listen to me speak for five minutes. And with those attention constraints, I’ve learned time and again, I’m barely persuasive on immigration at all. Sharing five minutes of intellectually sound arguments sways almost no one.

Given all my writings on demagoguery, I shouldn’t be surprised. Successful politicians base their power on the charismatic delivery of pretty lies. As a conscientious scholar, I refuse to stoop to their level. But it does make me wonder: If I was willing to go full demagogue in defense of open borders, what would I say?

Probably something like what I’ve written below the flag. Dear readers, I give you… my demagogic case for open borders.

The United States is a country of immigrants. Some of us are the children of immigrants. Others their grandchildren or great-grandchildren. But the only reason any of us are here is that someone born elsewhere chose to move to this great country. And a big part of what made this country great is that when newcomers arrived, we welcomed them, we worked with them, and we had children together. American children.

Now I ask you, when this great country first welcomed your ancestors, was it a sacrifice? Was it charity? Were your parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents a burden on this country? Of course not. They showed up with big American dreams — and big American drive to make those dreams happen. It’s thanks to our courageous ancestors who forsook the Old World that we’re Americans today.

Every other country would have refused them. Only America had the vision and heart to look at our ancestors and extend the earnest hand of friendship. Instead of sneering, “They’re not good enough for us!” they saw fine people ready to work hard to make a better lives for their families. And they weren’t wrong. That’s just the way it happened. And because past generations of Americans had this vision and heart, we became the greatest country in the history of the world. E pluribus unum — “out of many, one.” America has always been a beacon of hope — and that’s why we’re the light of the world.

And that’s why it breaks my heart to hear my fellow Americans look at the latest generations of immigrants and say those awful words, “They’re not good enough for us!” We’re here because our ancestors knew better. Our ancestors knew that when someone arrives on our shores in ragged clothes, speaking broken English, carrying their half-starved kids, a real American is not fooled. He looks past the failures of the Old World and sees the latest family of Americans. People not looking for a hand-out, or even a hand-up, but just a warm handshake: “Welcome to America, land of opportunity.”

I’m an American, not an American’t. Name any complaint you’ve got about immigrants. I’ve heard them all. They’re the same complaints naysayers had about our ancestors. What do you think about the folks who said that your ancestors were “too different,” “too lazy,” “too stupid” to provide for their own families in this great country?

They weren’t just mean, and they weren’t just wrong — though they certainly were both. Worse, they were un-American. Because if you believe in this country, you don’t even need to listen to these crybabies. If you want to do the right thing, you’ll find a way. Otherwise, you’ll find an excuse.

Being an American was never easy. It meant looking past the sins of the governments of the people we welcomed. Being an American meant welcoming Germans who grew up worshipping the Kaiser. Being an American meant welcoming Russians who grew up worshipping their Czar. Being an American meant welcoming the tribe that everyone else on Earth blamed for crucifying Jesus Christ himself.

And that’s why, when American faced its greatest challenge in World War II, we had millions of German-Americans, Russian-Americans, and Jewish Americans on our side. Fighting on the beaches. Planning in the war rooms. And engineering war-ending atomic bombs underneath the University of Chicago. If he’d lived in modern times, Jesus Christ wouldn’t have just given us the moral lessons this country was founded on. I firmly believe that he would have chosen to become a proud American citizen.

And that’s what we have to remember whenever someone says, “Immigrants are great, except.” Exceptions are not the American way. We’ve got to welcome the people of all nations. We’ve got to welcome them with the same confidence past generations of Americans welcomed our ancestors. There’s always a few bad apples, but the American solution is American justice for the individually guilty — and that’s all she wrote.

You can attack this country, but you’ll never kill the American dream. A dream that tells the whole world: No matter how bad things seem, there’s a special country out there ready to take a chance on you, if you’ll take a chance on her. A special country called the United States of America.

America is immigration, and immigration is America. It’s my story. It’s your story. And it’s the story that the whole world needs to hear. God bless America, and God bless every one on Earth who dreams of America. Because together, we’re going to make the greatest country on Earth greater than it’s ever been.

[End demagoguery.]

P.S. I know, of course, that the U.S. wasn’t history’s only open borders country!