Open Borders Religion

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Eric Hoffer famously said, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” There’s certainly a lot of truth to it, but he dismisses the religious aspects that carry through to the racket stage. Al Gore is making millions from the climate change racket, but he still believes it. The rest of the cult really believes it. There are plenty of movements run by cynical opportunists, but the congregation is still emotionally invested in the faith.

This post by Tyler Cowen is a good example.

In other words, we should keep on letting more people in until nativist bias dwindles away into the dustbin of history.  I say backlash will set in first, as  I have never met a truly cosmopolitan Volk, the cosmopolitanites least of all.  I would say Bryan has the moral high ground but not a practicable proposal.  Nonetheless we can and should favor less nativism and more immigration at the margin. 
Cowen is a bright guy and often litters his posts with nonsense as click bait. Still, one senses his attachment to open borders is so thoroughly detached from fact; it is now an article of faith. No amount of facts and evidence will dissuade him. Sure, he is cynically cashing in on it when he can, but he is a true believer. In the comments, you really see the fanaticism on display. A comment by dan1111 is a good example.

I didn’t create American society; I just happened to be born in America. It’s not clear to me that I have any more “right” to enjoy the benefits of this society than people who happened to be born in China or Ghana or Canada.

Also, underlying this is the assumption that a society contains some finite amount of benefit that will be used up or diluted if more people are allowed entry. When in fact, it is possible that these additional people could be contributing to the society and increasing the benefit to everyone.

At the heart of every believer is self-loathing. They don’t join a cult, mass movement or ideological cause because they are self-confident individualists. They are attracted to these things out of self-loathing. They hate themselves and by extension their ancestors and those who are like them. They seek to swap out their identity for that of the group or movement. This guy hates the part of himself called “American.” Therefore he hopes America gets transformed into something else, thus obliterating that which he despises about himself. He is the western equivalent of the suicide bomber. Only through self-annihilation can he be free. Taking the rest of us with him is his service to humanity.

In truth, I’m giving this guy far more credit that is warranted. In my observation, the fanatic is not terribly introspective. They may spend a lot of time in some form of struggle session, but they have a huge blind spot, which is the mirror. The lack of self-awareness is staggering at times. In this case, dan111 is most likely engaging in a pubic display of piety. The point of which is to get positive feedback from his coreligionists, which Brian Donahue, another fanatic, promptly supplies. On-line, you often see the ritualized call and response you see in Southern Baptist churches.

There’s another aspect that I think makes open borders enthusiasm a religion. They always demand you prove them wrong to their satisfaction in accordance with their preferred rules of debate. This is a common tactic in cults. The Left used to do this with homosexual marriage. “Why shouldn’t they be allowed to get married?” was a way of putting the burden of proof on the opponent, by making homosexual marriage a moral default. All of a sudden, the radical is defending moral order.
In the case of open borders, they start with, “Why should we restrict immigration?” as if that question has never been addressed. This is like stealing first base. Then they steal second and third base as well, by asserting “Since immigration increase labor efficiency and makes society more prosperous, how can limits on immigration result in positive economic growth?” Finally, they eliminate the cultural arguments by claiming opposition to open border is just a new form of racism, thus anathematizing the issue.
A comment from a guy calling himself QWERTY gets to the heart of the matter.

Caplan never explains to us why immigration is so important. Why the rights of travelling opportunist are more important than the rights of the people who have created a society.

It is not at all clear why everybody should always have a right to go to another society to enjoy what other people have created.

Nope and they never will.

3 thoughts on “Open Borders Religion”

  1. I lean left but I don’t favor increased immigration. Not until we find jobs for the millions of unemployed Americans first. Not everything is left-right – most people are in between.

  2. Yes. Open borders are truly a tenet of the liberal faith. Nobody has “open borders” in their private lives. Huge amounts of economic activity are devoted to Americans fleeing diversity. But the open borders Gospel is preached and preached.

  3. I’ve never seen anyone explain how immigraion actually benefits the bottom 90% of people.

    The top 10%, Tyler’s Ilk sure. The rest of us? I doubt it.

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