The Swiss

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This Tyler Cowen post captures what’s wrong with our ruling elites.

In my view immigration has gone well for Switzerland, both economically and culturally, and I am sorry to see this happen, even apart from the fact that it may cause a crisis in their relations with the European Union.  That said, you can take 27% as a kind of benchmark for the limits of immigration in most or all of today’s wealthy countries.  I believe that as you approach a number in that range, you get a backlash.

Countries have an absolute right to decide who is and who is not a citizen. They also get to decide who can and who cannot enter their country. They also control who can settle in their lands. The only people qualified to know how much immigration is good for the Swiss are the Swiss. An outsider can have no idea what will work for the Swiss, so they should not pretend they know the right answer. The best someone like Cowen can do is talk about what the Swiss think is best for them.

It is tempting to write this off as arrogant and obtuse, but that’s not it. What we seeing is an almost religious fervor by our rulers for a borderless world. They don’t state it that way, as they have gas-lit themselves on the matter of religion. They think they are pure logic machines, but that’s just self-delusion. Open borders is part of this utopia they imagine is right around the corner. If we just get rid of borders, human differences and sexual differences, humanity enters the Promised Land.