tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post8915149703231219402..comments2024-03-19T07:48:54.021-06:00Comments on Gus Van Horn: Taking Things up a NotchGus Van Hornhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-43633658773692758152010-05-05T17:48:58.573-06:002010-05-05T17:48:58.573-06:00Ah, yes! One of the few country songs I like...Ah, yes! One of the few country songs I like...Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-74612073873426319622010-05-05T17:30:00.377-06:002010-05-05T17:30:00.377-06:00Yo, Gus, you write: "I like that line. It...Yo, Gus, you write: "I like that line. It's commonly applied to Texas, too, and I used it from time to time."<br /><br />Which reminds me of a fun song by Lyle Lovett:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQoXnz3h_FESnedcatnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-22707730873919420102010-05-04T21:26:46.150-06:002010-05-04T21:26:46.150-06:00I like that line. It's commonly applied to Tex...I like that line. It's commonly applied to Texas, too, and I used it from time to time.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-29248453230435934332010-05-04T21:16:24.280-06:002010-05-04T21:16:24.280-06:00The converse of that line is the one that, as an i...The converse of that line is the one that, as an immigrant (and therefore someone who *chose* to be here) I like to use:<br /><br />"I wasn't born in America, but I got here as fast as I could."<br /><br />I used a variant of that line on my future wife when she made the "where have you been all my life" comment. She got a huge laugh out of it.Jim Maynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-29856017449776275722010-05-03T20:45:51.867-06:002010-05-03T20:45:51.867-06:00Thanks. I think the idea for that line ultimately ...Thanks. I think the idea for that line ultimately came from an old Cox and Forkum cartoon.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-38279976540155888392010-05-03T19:45:02.050-06:002010-05-03T19:45:02.050-06:00Congrats on your elevation to PJM, Gus. Richly de...Congrats on your elevation to PJM, Gus. Richly deserved. :-)<br /><br />And I loved you line above about "too many Americans needing to immigrate to their own country in a philosophical sense."<br /><br />That's certainly how it seems from this distance (at the bottom of the South Pacific.)<br /><br />Cheers,<br />PCPeter Cresswellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10699845031503699181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-84646930892212519882010-05-03T16:58:27.857-06:002010-05-03T16:58:27.857-06:00Thank you, Michael. I believe I saw you post over ...Thank you, Michael. I believe I saw you post over there, too, which I appreciate.<br /><br />Yes, there's lots of confusion, but there are plenty of active, reachable minds out there, too. <br /><br />My article and the occasional answer to some of the more wrong responses are exactly what we have to be doing to reach the active-minded, freedom-loving public.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-65842416119419459132010-05-03T16:30:03.482-06:002010-05-03T16:30:03.482-06:00Congratulations on the article, Gus.
The commen...Congratulations on the article, Gus. <br /><br />The comments section reveals the hopeless confusion that exists among conservatives over the nature and source of rights.<br /><br />It also reveals the extent to which conservatives are morally compromised by their acceptance of altruism -- it so utterly disarms them they dare not challenge the welfare state.<br /><br />Instead, we witness the revolting spectacle of the alleged champions of freedom and capitalism asserting that the state has a right to sentence millions of innocent people to rot in hell holes of corruption and despotism -- and that said people have a duty to accept that sentence for as long as the state chooses to impose it.<br /><br />Such is the power of moral ideas to trump any contrary political positions one may hold -- a point made by Ayn Rand repeatedly.Michael Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03385208071107592989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-33834955154207202132010-05-02T05:39:28.727-06:002010-05-02T05:39:28.727-06:00Jim,
Thanks, and I'm glad you linked your blo...Jim,<br /><br />Thanks, and I'm glad you linked your blog directly here and that you had some time to devote to some of the other anti-immigration fallacies so many conservatives are fond of. <br /><br />One of your comments reminds me of a line I decided I had to cut from the article. It was something to the effect of too many Americans needing to immigrate to their own country in a philosophical sense. <br /><br />GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-77738773700825920192010-05-02T00:55:53.765-06:002010-05-02T00:55:53.765-06:00Hey Gus, congrats on the PJM article.
As for the ...Hey Gus, congrats on the PJM article.<br /><br />As for the usual points raised by anti-immigration conservatives that madmax noted, I'm going to put them into an update to my own <a href="http://www.newclarion.com/2010/04/rights-of-man/" rel="nofollow">immigration article</a> and blast 'em.<br /><br />Like fish in a barrel.Jim Maynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-67134512126978965152010-05-01T07:52:13.351-06:002010-05-01T07:52:13.351-06:00Yes, Neil Parille has posted the same objection to...Yes, Neil Parille has posted the same objection to what he asserts my position on immigration to be before, and I have already answered it at least once. (The interested reader may see this in the next link.)<br /><br />Parille has also persistently <a href="http://gusvanhorn.blogspot.com/2009/11/no-state-tuition-for-all.html#c1984515636825897719" rel="nofollow">equated</a> my position, open immigration, with open borders, despite my having made it clear to him that that is not the case on at least one other occasion.<br /><br />I would kindly direct the reader interested in learning more about Objectivist thought concerning immigration to the <a href="http://armchairintellectual.blogspot.com/2010/04/immigration.html" rel="nofollow">links at this post</a>.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-56535205105129735322010-05-01T07:19:34.202-06:002010-05-01T07:19:34.202-06:00Thank you both, David and Stephen.Thank you both, David and Stephen.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-22598454875267099982010-05-01T05:35:40.817-06:002010-05-01T05:35:40.817-06:00Congratulations, Gus. As usual, you've done a ...Congratulations, Gus. As usual, you've done a great job getting to the essence of the issue. Once again, we have people clamoring for more government force to "fix" problems that were caused by the government in the first place.Stephen Bourquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13699468585645166392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-34849034918395610402010-04-30T22:31:46.942-06:002010-04-30T22:31:46.942-06:00Congratulations, Gus. No doubt the first of many ...Congratulations, Gus. No doubt the first of many insightful articles and essays. All the best!<br /><br />Dave RagainiDavid Ragainihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11584669548375854296noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-60057194148593726822010-04-30T18:40:11.500-06:002010-04-30T18:40:11.500-06:00I've probably posted a similar argument before...I've probably posted a similar argument before, but assume country A is free and its intellectuals are anti-welfare state. Assume county A has 2 million people and borders country B which is statist and has 10 million people. A is wealthy and B is poor.<br /><br />Should A allow open immigration? <br /><br />What if B is a Moslem nation its members want to impose Sharia on A (but tell A's border officials this and falsely claim to be secular)?<br /><br />For A to advocate open borders sounds even if it means the reduction of its wages through immigration and the imposition of Sharia sounds like altruism to me.Neil Parillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11074901258306769278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-73726790073317266502010-04-30T16:34:30.057-06:002010-04-30T16:34:30.057-06:00Thanks, madmax.
It might be worthwhile to write a...Thanks, madmax.<br /><br />It might be worthwhile to write a follow-up article, it might not.<br /><br />I'll have to think a bit more about the more "popular" objections. Some arise from legitimate issues I didn't address and some do not. Some were addressed well by other commenters.<br /><br />I'm letting it percolate. I would want to find a point actually worth addressing rather than get bogged down on something that some people just don't see and others refuse to see.<br /><br />GusGus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-64714926066554551562010-04-30T14:07:54.320-06:002010-04-30T14:07:54.320-06:00Gus,
Congrats on getting your article published. ...Gus,<br /><br />Congrats on getting your article published. From reading through the comments I see that most were negative. Here are the common criticisms:<br /><br />* foreign labor takes away American jobs<br /><br />* eliminating the welfare state will not end Mexican immigration because American work pays more so there will still be illegal immigration<br /><br />* America has too many people as it is and can not accommodate any more.<br /><br />* There will be inevitable tension between whites and Hispanics<br /><br />* Hispanics, at large, will resist assimilation and Hispanize America<br /><br />* The Southern border needs to be militarized to prevent an invasion<br /><br />etc. I have made the same anti-welfare state argument many times and it is always dismissed as "simplistic" and "naive". I wonder, do you think that you should write a follow up article which addresses some of the most popular criticisms that you received; some of the bullet points above? Perhaps it may be necessary to put some laisse-faire economic theory in your article as well. George Reisman has written extensively on free immigration. I know it is important to make the moral argument but we also have economics on our side. We should use that to show how more productive people means higher standard of living and without the welfare state immigrants would have no choice to be productive. Harry Binswanger argues alot from this perspective.<br /><br />Selling immigration to conservatives is a hard sell. I respect you for trying.madmaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14375140131881725965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-16260993151793528252010-04-30T12:43:34.361-06:002010-04-30T12:43:34.361-06:00Thanks. Also, I appreciate the comment you left th...Thanks. Also, I appreciate the comment you left there.Gus Van Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05126749051688217781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8839412.post-22209524784865587202010-04-30T07:42:52.193-06:002010-04-30T07:42:52.193-06:00Congrats Gus! I look forward to reading the whole ...Congrats Gus! I look forward to reading the whole thing.Sandi Trixxhttp://sanditrixx.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com