AV –à My
thoughts on the weekend:
The
Trump ban on immigrants is dumb, ineffective, and done in poor taste.
1. FREE TRADE OF GOODS, SERVICES, AND PEOPLE
IS KEY
I hold
an unwavering view of the freedoms of man to include international movement of
people, goods, and services. Free trade
of goods, services and people (and I don’t want to hear the people that will be
offended by referring to trading people - that is not the intent - the intent
is the freedom of movement of people and goods) is the only path that leads
to economic prosperity and peaceful relations.
Free trade makes people wealthier and more peaceful in every case.
2. COSTS VS. BENEFITS
I
understand some American citizens feel a sense of nationalism and the related
need to improve the perceived safety of American’s. I also understand that many don’t agree with
my unwavering commitment to free trade. The
supporters of the new immigration EO are generally conservatives who identify
these reasons for their support. In my
opinion, they should base their appreciation (or lack thereof), not on
vacillating feelings, but instead on concrete cost benefit analysis.
Benefits:
Debatedly improved safety. This is an obvious benefit but it's not clear the ban actually provides it.
Costs:
·
Many people are upset and
express their discontent based on all kinds of factors. While
indeed a cost, I think this is probably not the biggest deal.
·
The financial cost to
employ the personnel that enforce this ban and pay for the development of
technologies and processed to screen everyone will be huge.
·
Increased hatred of America and its people by countries across this world will be the biggest
cost of all. This backlash in terms of
animosity towards America is not inherently of concern. Though many liberals might cry and moan over
this, it is not a cost other than to individual self-esteem etc. The true cost
will be the identification of the US as “the enemy” prompting nations around
the world to act on that aggression.
This is what happened when the Obama administration bombed the hell out
of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, etc. These people began to see the US as the
enemy, cultivating a feeling of hatred towards the US, generating increased
attacks on America. This will be the
major cost - in terms of human life.
From this perspective I think the Trump administration is wrong to ban
these immigrants and Trump supporters need to be more realistic and critical of
their highly flawed leader.
3. PARTISAN
HYPOCRISY
I am
amused to see liberals claim that this EO is unconstitutional. Yet those same folks proudly applauded the
many over-reaching EO’s of Obama over the last 8 years. There is no such thing as unconstitutional
for liberals as long as it fits their agenda.
If it doesn’t – it’s automatically unconstitutional. At the same time, conservatives who cried
foul repeatedly over the last eight years now find themselves suddenly silent
and approving. Truly, the two-party
system is broken.
4. GET
OUT OF THE ECHO CHAMBER
Much of the
news about the ban (and most other issues) has been “fake news” and “alternative
facts”. I highly suggest you read about
the issues from a source other than the mainstream media. I read from both main stream media and several other
sources presented in this blog. Go ahead
and read the main stream media, but also expose yourself to other view points and to more
factually correct sources as well.
Now back
to the articles!
“In short, Democrats and progressive
activists will no doubt attack the jurisprudence of whomever emerges from this
contest. I welcome that debate, but charges of insufficient diversity can only
come from those with insufficiently developed understandings of that term.”
Diversity has very
little to do with race and gender. They
are two of many millions of factors on which people can vary.
AV à I love this #deleteuber protest. Less demand means lower prices for the rest
of us. I assume some drivers may delete
it as well but if the app is a source of income as opposed to a convenience,
people will be less likely to delete the app.
Therefore we have similar supply and less demand. Yeah for lower fares!
This is just
another piece of evidence that free trade creates peace. The NY Times is trying to rip Trump because
he doesn’t ban people from countries in which he has done business. 1. This is stupid in that he is most likely
to ban people from unstable countries and is equally unlikely to do business in
unstable countries. This is a
correlation not causation by any means.
2. It is true that when you are
able to do business (or trade as some refer to it) in countries you gain a
level of respect and trust for the people of that country. This is not surprising and should be used as
a shining example for free trade and movement of people.
AV
à The title of a recent article in the National
Review was “Trump is wrong but his liberal critics are crazy” has to be the
most accurate title I have seen on a news piece in a long time.
It doesn’t take
much for people to freak out and give up liberties as well as give too much
power to one person.
This article is
completely correct. The wall and border
tax are terrible idea.
“As for the wall itself, have we no
better use for the tons of concrete and steel, the miles of roadway and
electrical wire, and the years of human time and effort it would take to build,
maintain, and monitor it? We would be dumping precious resources in the desert
in order to deny ourselves the ultimate resource. It’s stupefying.”
“Courageous principles sometimes allow bad outcomes. Freedom of speech
allows for some noxious ideas to spread. Gun rights allow for some bad people
to more easily engage in violence. Requirements for warrants allow for some
criminals to hide their crimes. And freedom of movement allows for some bad
people to travel where they can do harm.
Such courageous principles do not create perfect
worlds. They create structures in which people have the freedom to shape the
world, for better or worse – with better usually winning. Depriving the vast
majority of people's freedom to prevent a small minority from spreading evil
impoverishes and threatens everybody.”
Hmm, brings to mind some
more hypocrisy. Those who want more gun
control are typically the ones horrified by immigration bans.
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