Category Archives: IMMIGRATION

Machan/Mercer Exchange

Founding Fathers, Government, IMMIGRATION, libertarianism, The State

Tibor Machan posted a brief reply to “The Work Open-Border Libertarians Won’t Do” in the Comments Section of Barely a Blog. The meat of Machan’s reply:

“Refusing to extend welfare to illegal immigrants will amount to an arbitrary, indeed mean-minded policy based on nothing more than nationalism or even worse, such as preference for members of one’s own race or age group or some such nonsense.”

Machan’s line of reasoning proceeds from the premise that limiting the size and scope of the Welfare State no matter how is not necessary the most urgent—and hence the most ethical and moral—imperative. Rather, according to Tibor’s reasoning, given the reality of the Transfer State, apportioning welfare based on egalitarian, “fair,” and consistent criteria is the most pressing matter.

The premise of Machan’s reply seems to be that egalitarian treatment (of the world) is the proper purpose of policy. As a strict propertarian, I could not disagree more; As I see it, the imperative of policy is to limit theft, not extend its spoils fairly.

I also wonder about the worldview held by libertarians. The founders clearly recognized that some people were the responsibility of a limited, American, republican government; others not. What, after all, did John Quincy Adams mean when he counseled that America not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy, but remain the well-wisher of the freedom and independence of all, but the champion and vindicator only of her own?

Machan’s reply, on the other hand, seems to suggest that “We Are the World”—that since we have the misfortune of laboring under the transfer state, we are obliged to extend its “benefits” to all who enter its orbit.

South African Jews: If Desperate, Go to Israel

Crime, IMMIGRATION, Israel, South-Africa

Israel’s overall death rate from crime is very low; lower than that of the US, which is, overall, about 6 in 100,000. Of course, in our ghettoes it rises to about 40 per 100,000, and thus closely approximates the rates I’ve documented for South Africa.

As readers of this blog (and of my columns) know, South Africa jostles with Iraq (but beats Columbia, I am told) for the title of the most violent place on earth: “The last statistics available, courtesy of the CBS, showed that between April 2004 and March 2005, 18,793 people were murdered in South Africa (population 47 million). In comparison, the ‘high crime’ United States (population 297 million) suffered 16,692 murders. Put differently, South Africa has 60 homicides per 100,000 people; the US approximately 6. And these are the official, filtered figures. According to Robert McCafferty of the United Christian Action, the South African Medical Research Council tallies 89 daily deaths, or 32,000 a year. Interpol’s statistics are also double those released by the South African Police Service.”

Remarkably, in 2004, Israel’s death by murder was 3.7 per 100,000 for civilians only; 4.3 when soldiers were included. (“Homicide rates in 2004 in a number of major U.S. cities, including the nation’s capital, exceeded rates of Palestinian fatalities at the hands of Israel’s army in the past year.”)

Ergo, if South African Jews are unable to immigrate to the US or Europe, they ought to consider Israel. They are far less likely to die there than in South Africa.

Outsourcing Parenting: The Cho Family & The Immigrant Experience

Canada, Education, Family, Government, IMMIGRATION, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, The West

Alex, in the Comments Section appended to my column, “Evil, Not Ill,” makes quite a few assumptions. He also appears to approve of spanking and destroying a child’s toys as disciplinary measures, but not of calling a monster “an idiot,” as Cho’s aunt dared to. Sticks are fine, but not words!? How does our valued contributor know, moreover, so much about Cho’s father? Maybe the family was scared of social services?

When my family and I arrived in North America, my daughter was accustomed to a strong parental presence in her life. However, she was young, and kept on hearing, in her Canadian school, about the things parents can and can’t do. Subject matter was less a topic in the schools than the child’s rights vis-a-vis his or her mouth-breathing parents.
As I am certainly a fire-breathing dragon when it comes to the state’s interference with my child, I fought them all the way, and made sure she understood the logic of the battle. One day, when I laid down the law about some or another thing, the little minx looked at me with those huge doe eyes, and said, “I can call social services; they’ll make you change your mind.” I sat her down and told her what could befall her if the “Sapphic Sisters from Social Services” arrived to take her away from me. That sorted her out; kids are very liberal, they want all the license in the world, but they do not want to be removed from the people who love them. She realized she preferred being raised by mom than a foster family of the state’s choosing.

There were countless other incidents. Many immigrant families from traditional societies are simply intimidated by the customs in their new abode. Or lack the intellectual and financial wherewithal to negate them —believe me, it’s a constant, uphill battle. Vigilance is eternal when it comes to state schools and their staff. As an immigrant from a traditional to a statist society, I can empathize with the Cho family’s putative plight (I have no idea if this is what transpired, but I suspect my hunch is correct). You have to have intellectual and financial resources to be there constantly so as to deprogram the kid. I know; I did it.
The response the Cho family has issued sounded so very sincere and sad. Unlike the American families that have unleashed their brats on the community —never heard the “Sorry” word from the Columbine creeps’ parents —this Korean family humbly begged for forgiveness. It is my hunch, as I said above, that this is a family fragmented by a move to a progressive society, where parenting must be outsourced to state-sanctioned experts-cum-asses —the teletwits you see on TV —or else.

Outsourcing Parenting: The Cho Family & The Immigrant Experience

IMMIGRATION, The West

Alex, in the Comments Section appended to my column, “Evil, Not Ill,” makes quite a few assumptions. He also appears to approve of spanking and destroying a child’s toys as disciplinary measures, but not of calling a monster “an idiot,” as Cho’s aunt dared to. Sticks are fine, but not words!? How does our valued contributor know, moreover, so much about Cho’s father? Maybe the family was scared of social services?

When my family and I arrived in North America, my daughter was accustomed to a strong parental presence in her life. However, she was young, and kept on hearing, in her Canadian school, about the things parents can and can’t do. Subject matter was less a topic in the schools than the child’s rights vis-a-vis his or her mouth-breathing parents.
As I am certainly a fire-breathing dragon when it comes to the state’s interference with my child, I fought them all the way, and made sure she understood the logic of the battle. One day, when I laid down the law about some or another thing, the little minx looked at me with those huge doe eyes, and said, “I can call social services; they’ll make you change your mind.” I sat her down and told her what could befall her if the “Sapphic Sisters from Social Services” arrived to take her away from me. That sorted her out; kids are very liberal, they want all the license in the world, but they do not want to be removed from the people who love them. She realized she preferred being raised by mom than a foster family of the state’s choosing.

There were countless other incidents. Many immigrant families from traditional societies are simply intimidated by the customs in their new abode. Or lack the intellectual and financial wherewithal to negate them —believe me, it’s a constant, uphill battle. Vigilance is eternal when it comes to state schools and their staff. As an immigrant from a traditional to a statist society, I can empathize with the Cho family’s putative plight (I have no idea if this is what transpired, but I suspect my hunch is correct). You have to have intellectual and financial resources to be there constantly so as to deprogram the kid. I know; I did it.
The response the Cho family has issued sounded so very sincere and sad. Unlike the American families that have unleashed their brats on the community —never heard the “Sorry” word from the Columbine creeps’ parents —this Korean family humbly begged for forgiveness. It is my hunch, as I said above, that this is a family fragmented by a move to a progressive society, where parenting must be outsourced to state-sanctioned experts-cum-asses —the teletwits you see on TV —or else.