How Can Open Borders Ever Work? – The Flaws in the Premise

By Mark Angelides

Not only are there vast organizations dedicated to the idea of open border immigration, there are grassroots movements, individual campaigners, and also elements within governments that want this deeply flawed “plan” to become the new Global Vision. But they are all missing some very important points that seem not to be challenged by opponents.
The fact is that the idea of a world where we can live where we want, travel freely, and escape poverty is very attractive. It even seems the moral choice in many ways…But there are dangers and issues that do not get pointed out. Those who speak against open borders will forever be doomed to lose in the court of public opinion because they do not take the time to spell out the flaws in the “logic.”
It is all too often the emotive case that wins the argument (unfortunately), and it is far easier to cry “It’s the right thing to do!” whilst waving pictures of suffering children, than to reflect on the very real, and very serious issues that would arise from actually having the reality of open borders.
People try to make the economic argument against Open Borders to folk who think money, wealth, and business are dirty words…These people can never be won over by suggesting economic arguments because they don’t believe the economic systems we have now are “right.”
So how to argue with people who want the whole system of government that we have to collapse in favor of a (more traditionally left-leaning) New Politics? The key is to show how their “Utopia” would be destroyed by the very thing they claim to want.
Three of the biggest flaws in this ideology are practical ones.
Proponents of Open Borders (usually) support a strong welfare system…
In an open border world, welfare payments would spiral and destroy the very facilities and services that they care about the most. Just like the “greedy rich” they criticize now, people would move their financial affairs to regions that benefitted them the most. If that meant higher welfare payments existed in one area, the poor (and the lazy and criminal) would flock there. But who pays for this welfare?
One would assume that all welfare programs are paid for through taxation (and in their Utopia, taxes would be far higher no doubt). But what is to stop the “wealth creators” from moving their operations to a more competitive tax arena? After all, Open Borders are for everyone, not just the select few.
They might argue that we would have to standardize taxation across the globe (basically one step from world government), but doesn’t that also mean that people in poor areas would have to pay an equivalent tax percentage as those in richer areas? So the result would be to either punitively tax those who can least afford to pay, or have a graded system of tax based on regional incomes…If the latter, then we would again face the prospect of those “wealth creators” (or even just folk who are more flexible in where they work) moving to get a better deal for themselves.
And then there is education…
Regardless of out political position, most people agree that it is important to have a well-educated population and that schools (generally) provide not just an environment for teaching, but also to socially stimulate children in a way that makes them better adapted at dealing with people in the outside world (although this is becoming more and more debatable as school systems suffer).
So who gets educated by which school system? Who pays for the schooling? Are school systems worldwide to be standardized (Goodbye diversity of thought) and most importantly… How will the children be taught?
Consider that with Open Borders, people can live, work and move where they like. We would presume that they would take their children and families with them. The children will need to be educated (and people who are moving countries for work, other than the wealthier expats, cannot afford private schooling in their homes) and as such must go to a school in or near that area… What language will they be taught in?
If you have open borders, it is entirely possible that in a class of 30 children, a huge range of languages will be spoken as the mother tongue. Most of these children will be from poorer countries moving to richer countries and will most likely not speak every language under the sun.
For example: A class of 14 year old children, let’s say 30 kids per class. With Open Borders, there could be 10 or more languages…This would mean that the children could only get an education if there are 10 translators in the class, or the classes are segregated by language (meaning the school would have to hire teachers who could use those languages). And this is not going to be possible, especially as it would have to be paid for through taxation (see above).
There are many other areas of life that would be impacted in much the same way…Health care, voting rights, social programs, and they would all collapse with Open Borders.
It’s time to start making the arguments against this destructive and pointless ideology.