I'm not very good at maintaining an even tone on this issue, because it increasingly strikes me as an issue of fundamental human rights. So forgive my aggressiv

I'm not very good at maintaining an even tone on this issue, because it increasingly strikes me as an issue of fundamental human rights. So forgive my aggressively anti-border position, probably far out of the mainstream. I'm not completely alone in my minority view though. The UN human development report put it this way, "mobility is a fundamental element of human freedom [and] entails the freedom to seek opportunities to improve living standards, and health and education outcomes, and/or to live in safer, more responsive communities."[1] Doesn't that have at least some intuitive appeal? What if you've relocated to a city from a surrounding town, (as most people in America have been doing since at least 1950 [2]). Suppose someone took you out of your current home and returned you to the town you grew up in as a child. Would that be fair in any sense of the word? If someone from Wyoming can move to Miami for a better opportunity, then why not someone from far closer, and likely even far more culturally similar? Someone from Haiti or Cuba? More than anything, when people rebut the notion that everyone should be allowed to pursue a better life, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, it reminds me of Texas's argument against abolition. Its articles argued that abolitionists were foolishly "proclaiming the debasing doctrine of equality of all men, irrespective of race or color--a doctrine at war with nature, in opposition to the experience of mankind, and in violation of the plainest revelations of Divine Law."[3] It seemed pretty horrible then, and it seems pretty horrible now. Or as Caplan put it, Your fellow "Americans are not the master race." You wouldn't kill for them. Why condemn others to poverty for them? Why not have hearts that bleed, not only for your compatriots, but also for the hard working immigrant? [4] Besides, computer science grads are fine anyway. I know it feels besieged if you're working in the field, but it's really not.[5-10] There are more pressing problems than protecting one of the safest bachelor-only disciplines available. [1] http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/nhdr_migration_gn.pdf http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/nhdr_migration_gn.pd... [2] http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00087158/00001/7j http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00087158/00001/7j [3] https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.html https://www.tsl.texas.gov/ref/abouttx/secession/2feb1861.htm... [4] http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2006/03/are_lowskilled.html http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2006/03/are_lowskilled.h... [5] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/home.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/h... [6] http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/09/10/219372252/the-most-and-least-lucrative-college-majors-in-1-graph http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/09/10/219372252/the-m... [7] http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jul/15/employment-statistics-university-graduates http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/jul/15/employm... [8] http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-07-10/college-graduates-who-majored-in-most-tech-fields-and-health-care-during-the-recession-had-better-outcomes-than-business-students http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-07-10/college-grad... [9] http://www.studentsreview.com/unemployment_by_major.php3?sort=Rate http://www.studentsreview.com/unemployment_by_major.php3?sor... [10] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/s...