The Immigration issue defines who we are as Americans. Many writers speak of an "invasion," or America "under siege." Others think they are anti-immigrant but they are actually opposed to the wasteful government welfare benefits given to immigrants.
Rather than tell you straight out what my position is on immigration (though given my stand on other issues, it should be fairly easy to predict), I would like you to think about this topic from an entirely new, fresh perspective. You will learn something valuable if you read this webpage. This page will take you about 24 minutes to read (31 minutes if you went to a government-run school). Let me approach the topic from the point of view of those who are opposed to immigration. I would agree that:
Immigration policy should not undermine these three objectives:
Briefly,
- Identity
- The American Identity does not refer to race. America stands for the idea of "Liberty Under God." Less government, more personal responsibility. God-given rights or freedoms.
- Sovereignty
- The American government has a right to exist only if it protects this identity, the ideal of "Liberty Under God." There are those who desire more government, not less, and their immigration policies are part of their strategy to destroy American sovereignty and replace the American form of government with a more "modern" form, of which the European Union is a model. They strategically appeal to anti-immigration groups for support for their plans to destroy America.
- Economy
- The American Economy has been largely capitalist, and has created the highest standard of living in human history. Our immigration policies should recognize the power of competition in a Free Market.
The policies of the Clinton-Bush Era are designed to subvert all three of these goals. Conservatives who want more federal forces on our borders, along with fences and laws creating felons out of "good samaritans," are hastening the "invasion" of an army that could well be God's instrument of judgment.
Let's look at the three objectives in more detail:
Preserve the American Identity
If we're facing a judgment, it's because we have repudiated the original ideals of America, as well as clear Biblical principles.
America's laws were built on God's Laws: The Ten Commandments and "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" sum up the whole of America's foundation: the Bible. The immigration policies of all the major parties -- including third parties like the Constitution Party -- ignore America's Biblical foundation. Immigration is a huge theme in the Bible. You may remember it from your Sunday School class: Israel emigrated to Egypt during a famine, had favorable status under one Pharaoh, but was oppressed by a later Pharaoh "who knew not Joseph," and Israel became in a sense "illegal aliens" in
Egypt. There was a great Exodus, after which God reminded Israel:
Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.
Exodus 22:21
The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:34
So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 10:19
So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. And it will come about that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
Ezekiel 47:21-22
Many more passages could be cited throughout the Bible. Evangelical treatment of aliens is a major Biblical theme, and even the Constitution Party misses it! David Chilton, in his book Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators, has done a fine job of summarizing Biblical law on this issue. You probably should read that link.
The Statue of Liberty expresses the essence of the American vision. It is a beacon to a world of socialism, fascism and communism.
A plaque with the text of "The New Colossus," a sonnet by Emma Lazarus, is mounted on the inner wall of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The title of the poem, and the first two lines, refer to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. "The Colossus of Rhodes" represented the thinking of the "New World Order" of that day, about 300 years before Christ.
America's Statue of Liberty is not about power, or collective unity arrived at by government coercion. It is a total repudiation of "the Colossus mentality." The poem, the statue, and America herself, are an invitation to the entire world to leave thousands of years of Pharaohs, Caesars, Czars and Führers in the dustbin of history. In particular, it invites not just the rich, the powerful, the celebrity, and the elite to enjoy the benefits of Liberty in America, but extends an invitation to all the victims and exiles of tyranny, all those who flee corrupt government and political oppression. Let Emma's
poem speak to your soul:
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Any immigration policy which does not have this passionate invitation beating in its heart is cold, tyrannical, and un-American. If you were a poor Mexican, living under Mexico's corrupt government, wouldn't you want to live in America? There is increasing American indifference to corruption in other governments, in part because we are indifferent to tyranny here at home. We increasingly buy into the myth that security and prosperity come from government
restrictions of liberty. We no longer believe we have any light to offer to those fleeing the darkness. We close the Golden Door because our own lamp is unlit.
I've been in the homes of Mexicans which were little more than sheets of plywood nailed together. If you found yourself in such a setting, in a nation where the government is in the hip-pocket of drug cartels, you would take appropriate steps to move your family to America. What right do I have to keep you from coming here? On July 9, 1812, President James Madison (the "Father of the Constitution") proclaimed a day of prayer,
to be set apart for the devout purposes of rendering the Sovereign of the Universe and the Benefactor of Mankind the public homage due to His holy attributes; of acknowledging the transgressions which might justly provoke the manifestations of His divine displeasure; of seeking His merciful forgiveness and His assistance in the great duties of repentance and amendment, that He would inspire all nations with a love of justice and of concord and with a reverence for the unerring precept of our holy religion to do to others as they would require that others should do to them.
America was once a Christian nation, but we are not practicing the precepts of "our holy religion" -- to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Our current laws against immigration make the Statue of Liberty and the precepts of the Christian religion illegal.
Consider how un-American fence-loving conservatives are. Central to the American vision is the idea that God has created all people equally, and given them unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property. Private Property is the lynchpin of American capitalism. Now consider this map of two properties owned by Jones and Garcia:
The Jones Ranch 
|
 The Garcia Ranchero
|
|
 |
|
Agent Smith |
|
|
Suppose Jones invites Garcia over to the Jones Ranch for a Bar-B-Q. Does Smith have a right to tell Garcia he doesn't have the liberty to cross the boundary separating his property from Jones'? Does Smith have right to tell Jones that he doesn't have the liberty to hire Garcia's son to work on the Jones Ranch? Does Smith have the right to tell 300 million Americans that they can't have certain people on their property or hire certain people in their businesses? Who owns America: Americans, or Smith? (Substitute "Bush," "Hillary," "Tom Tancredo," "House Republicans," or any name of your choice for "Smith".) "Who
owns America" is the fundamental question here. The answer is: whoever has rights. Whoever has the right (power) to decide how property is used owns that property. Did God give unalienable rights over property to human beings like Jones and Garcia, or to "the country" (whatever that is), to be administered by "Smith."
Conservative thinking (border patrols and fence-building) is based on numerous unBiblical socialist and collectivist assumptions.
Immigration Policy Reveals What We Are
Let's now look at immigration from a Capitalist, Free Market perspective:
Promote the American Economy
If our economy is in the tank, it is not because of immigrants. It is because government confiscates half of everything Americans produce. It is because we are no longer a Free Market economy, but a "mixed" socialist economy. The Soviet Union failed to create the "workers' paradise" because socialism violates immutable economic laws. Big government is immoral. Non-libertarian governments subject their people to poverty.
There are many people today who believe that immigrants cause poverty. Free Market economists and statisticians are on the side of the immigrants, not the fence-builders. Here is a simple explanation of why.
In 1880 there were 50 million people in America. Ask the anti-immigrant crowd in 1880 if America could possibly absorb four times as many people, and they would have said "absolutely not." But 100 years later, our population was four times as great (200 million), and the 1980 economy was at least 100 times larger than the 1880 economy. By 2080 U.S. population will be 500 million. And if our economy isn't 1000 times larger than it is today, it will be the government's fault -- and the fault of socialist-thinking anti-immigrant conservatives, seeking government protection against growth and change. Christian Capitalism should give us clean, nuclear-powered cars, genetic engineering should make food almost free, cancer should be cured, longevity extended, transportation radically altered ("Beam me up, Scotty!") . . . who
can even imagine the possibilities? And if we have immigrants mowing our lawns and hammering the nails, the rest of us can develop our specializations: curing diseases, programming computers, discovering free energy, and developing the capital infrastructure that will dramatically increase production and lower prices on everything. And the next generation of immigrants moves up the ladder of the division of labor as well, as long as they are not excluded from gainful employment by federal laws that interfere with their God-given right to "exercise dominion over the earth."
Why America Can Absorb More Immigrants
Do Immigrants Destroy American Jobs?
Competition benefits everyone, even the one who is out-competed. Henry Ford out-competed the horse-and-buggy manufacturers. Obviously we all benefited from cars, but even the displaced workers in the horse-and-buggy industry ended up living in a better world. They benefited from decreased transportation costs, which meant lower prices on everything they bought. Should the government have protected "America's valuable horse-and-buggy industry?" Unions and anti-immigrant forces are competition-phobic. They want their Big Brother the government to protect them from those mean ol' competitors. They want THEIR jobs protected at YOUR expense. Is that a Christian attitude?
Imagine a factory that employs 1,000 Americans to produce a product that is sold to one million people for $400. Imagine now that the owner fires all the Americans to hire illegal immigrants, projecting that he can cut the price of the product by 10% and increase sales. If you were going to buy this product for $400, and now discover it at Wal-Mart for $359.95, are you hurt? Suppose all the displaced Americans at that factory have to find work elsewhere, and they all take a 10% cut in salary. We can say they have been hurt. So how do we balance their hurt and your gain?
We simply do the math.
Since the employees were displaced by illegal immigrants, we'll assume their salary was $30,000/year. One thousand employees taking a 10% cut in wages = 1000 x $3000 = $3,000,000. Against this we weigh the benefits of one million consumers saving 10% on the $400 product. This is $40 x 1,000,000 = $40,000,000. Last time I checked, 40 million is greater than 3 million.
Cheap labor is good for the economy. Cheap labor is good for your wallet. If America is flooded with cheap labor, and the price of everything you buy is cut by 10%, then even if everyone's wages fall by 5% (including yours), we're all still ahead, because our real wages have increased. Would you rather earn "one million dollars" a year in an economy where a loaf of bread is $1,000, or would you rather earn "ten thousand dollars" a year in an economy where a loaf of bread is a penny? What you want is more purchasing power, not just more "dollars." Cheap labor means lower costs for producers, lower prices for consumers, and that means you can buy more with what you earn, no matter how many
"dollars" you earn. That means your standard of living goes up.
There are too many Americans today who want the government to use coercion and force to protect their job, even at the expense of all other Americans. This is unethical socialist selfishness. This anti-immigrant attitude is un-American. This is "the Colossus mentality."
Most Americans are ignorant of how capitalism works and why socialism fails. The Future of Freedom Foundation publishes some excellent studies on Immigration Policy. More detailed economic analysis can be found at The Independent Institute. Finally the work of Julian Simon is thorough and reliable. All of these sources approach the immigration issue from a Free Market perspective, which is the American perspective.
Our favorite defender of laissez-faire capitalism is Prof. George Reisman, and especially his treatise, titled simply Capitalism
. We have excerpted his explanation of the benefits of immigration and his analysis begins here.
America stands for the proposition that "Liberty Under God," not government central planning, is the path to economic prosperity. Capitalism, not socialism, is capable of taking advantage of cheap labor, and raises the standard of living for everyone.
- It may seem as if the Bush Administration is less conservative, more immigrant-friendly. This is deceptive. Current proposals by the Bush Administration, including "guest-worker" programs, and any other specifics that can be gleaned from the rhetoric, are designed to create "full mobility of labor" between Mexico and the United States.
| Our government elites in and out of the Bush Administration want a North American economic alliance that will make the border between the United States and Mexico as superfluous as the one between Missouri and Arkansas. (details) |
- This would not be a bad thing in itself, but the Bush plan involves the creation of a new regional government along the lines of the European Union, in which the sovereignty of the United States is submerged into a new system of government over North America, and eventually a hemispheric government over the 34 nations of North and South America. Steps in this plan include the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).
