On Apr 17, 2006, at 6:24 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> I also said in this segment that it would be very difficult to
> mount a principled argument for closing the borders. One argument
> from principle would be a desire to preserve some notion of
> cultural purity - an odious principle, but still a principle. The
> "dean of feminist economists," Barbara Bergmann, has argued for
> putting up a fence around the first world because the teeming
> hordes threaten feminism and other liberal values. That's a
> principled argument of a sort, but also an odious principle.
> There's also a desire to defend income disparities, but that
> descends from principle to entitlement and greed. It would be very
> messy practically to open the borders, for sure, but there's no
> moral ground for keeping them shut.
>
> Doug
The moral ground I see is that so many who come here wind up getting on government benefits. Right now people who worked and paid into the system for years for some kind of social security find that when they become unable to work that the benefit rolls are flooded, the funding is low, and the whole weight of so many clamoring to get on the disability/welfare/healthcare system is taking its toll. Having all these people coming here needy and poor (or just good at working the system because they say "its easy to get government benefits in America") makes a good case for those who want to just end the damn social contract because it costs too much. There are immigrants all around me and from all nationalities who collect government benefits who could be working but don't. They have learned to work the system....so when I see truly disabled people who cannot work (as opposed to those who can) not having enough money to keep warm in winter or buy the food they need, it pisses me off. I don't think you can't say that over-flooding the benefits system doesn't have moral consequences. People are dying from lack of Medicaid or adequate Medicaid and lack of enough income to survive on right now.
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