The Caravan Cometh--and Then What?

                The Caravan Cometh--and Then What?

                                                          Eric Paul Nolte


If, as so many believe, our borders should be open to the coming Caravan and everybody else, how is this notion any different from the idea that a thousand migrants should be free to board five big airliners and fly into, say, Stinking Holler, Arkansas, and then just slither into the woods unmolested forever?  Or worse, imagine these thousands on their dozen airplanes flying unannounced into the ginormous international airport at Dallas-Ft. Worth, and expect to deplane and then melt into the city unchallenged? 

I just don't get it.  What other country in the world has such open borders?  Apart from some ruined, chaotic pit like the anarchy that was Somalia under their competing warlords?

Well, seriously, there are many countries without borders, but most of these are either island nations throughout the world or a region like the European Union, which in 1985 opened their borders to residents of the Schengen region. 1.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the notion that so many people believe that our borders should be, in essence, abolished along with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 2.

Mind you, I do believe that immigration should be seen as an aspect of human nature, like the rights of all individuals to their own life, liberty, and property.  

Why shouldn't we be able to live anywhere we want to?  I believe we should enjoy the freedom to live wherever we want to, so long as we are peaceful and self-responsible.

Historically, national borders tended to be relatively open, especially in Europe during the second half of the 19th century when the expanding railroads and sea travel allowed so many more people to travel abroad.  This freedom of movement remained pretty much the norm until the bloody wake of the First World War, when fears for national security throttled the reality of free passage around the world.

But this freedom of movement is certainly not the norm today through most of the world.

Given that among the most legitimate purposes of government is to defend its citizens from foreign aggression, and given that we live in a world where many people do indeed want to kill us for their various reasons, mad-hatter and otherwise, it does not seem unreasonable to impose some government restrictions on who can enter America.  

While I believe that the US should be vastly more open than it is, it strikes me as a completely unhinged policy to allow just anybody to cross over our borders willy-nilly and expect to live here (much less come here and then take advantage of our government services without paying taxes.)

As with so many other vexing issues, I believe the best answer lies in more freedom--blessed liberty, the elixir of life, love, and abundance.

                                                          E   P   N

2018.1121
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 


1. Kristoffer Barks, "Which Countries Don't Have Borders?" 
found at Quora.com:
 https://www.quora.com/Which-countries-dont-have-borders

2. According to the New Jersey-based Monmouth University Polling Institute, as reported in USA Today, a large percentage of Americans believe that the so-called "caravan" trudging towards the US border should simply be allowed to cross into the US and live their lives unmolested by any authoritarians clucking over their dubious status.

The poll makes clear that most Americans believe at the very least that the migrants should all be given the opportunity to make their case for asylum here.  The breakdown of the politics of those polled shows this belief is held by 89% of Democrats, 73% of Independents, and 43% of Republicans.  A much smaller percentage of Americans believe the migrants represent any real threat to us.