There Are Differences

Some of the most vicious e-mail I have ever received has not been from bloodthirsty Republicans, military apologists, conservative warfare statists, or Christian warmongers; it has been from libertarians—mostly self-identified left-libertarians.

Three of the most contentious issues among libertarians are abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration. I know firsthand just how contentious these issue are because whenever I have written about them I have been called by left-libertarians a pseudo-libertarian, a conservative, a Nazi, a fascist, a right-winger, and a statist. I have also been called some other things, but cannot repeat them here on this family-friendly site.

I have argued in several articles that because the non-aggression axiom is central to libertarianism, and because force is justified only in self-defense, and because it is wrong to threaten or initiate violence against a person or his property, and because killing is the ultimate form of aggression that, to be consistent, libertarians should be opposed to abortion. My articles on abortion are listed here.

19. There is a difference between discrimination and xenophobia.

20. There is a difference between assimilated immigrants and alienated immigrants.

21. There is a difference between privately-funded immigration and taxpayer-funded immigration.

22. There is a difference between the United States giving sanctuary to refugees and the United States opening facilities overseas to process refugees.

23. There is a difference between the U.S. government limiting the number of refugees its accepts and the U.S. government refusing to grant asylum to Jewish refugees on the St. Louis in 1939.

24. There is a difference between the private, voluntary acceptance of refugees and the taxpayer-funded Office of Refugee Resettlement.

25. There is a difference between free immigration and forced immigration.

I have not argued against admitting Syrian refugees to the United States. I have not argued that immigrants take American jobs. I have not argued against admitting Muslims to the United States. I have not argued that immigrants commit crimes disproportionate to their numbers.

I have not argued against immigrants. I have not argued that some refugees might potentially be terrorists. I have not argued against lawful immigration. I have not argued that some immigrants don’t want to assimilate. I have not argued against unrestricted immigration. I have not argued that some immigrants don’t want to learn English. I have not even argued against “open borders.”

I have merely pointed out some differences that libertarians can and should be recognizing—even if they are sympathetic to “open borders.”

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