The Culture War - Illegal Immigration

If you read my first two parts on the culture war, then I you probably know exactly what I'm about to write. You probably know so well that you could write the article yourself.


After "the economy", and "the war on terror", illegal immigration is often cited as the most important issue on voters minds. As always, there are various groups that are interested in this issue for different reasons, they have different concerns, different solutions, or different reasons for the same solutions.


There are basically two issues being debated. How "open" should our borders be? What should we do with people that broke the law to get here?


I include this to the list of issues related to the "culture war" because many believe that American culture and traditions are at stake. Many claim that those that are immigrating here are not learning our language or our customs and are forcing American culture to adjust to their presence.


Again, I believe this divisive issue is further aggravated by the government's role in our culture.

If you are vehemently opposed to illegal immigration, let me ask you this: How would you feel about illegal immigration if every person who came here illegally were barred from sending their kids to public schools, and had to pay out of pocket for their health expenses?

The reason that so many people harbor such animosity towards illegal immigrants is because they are taking advantage of all sorts of government services and benefits that the American Taxpayer is paying for. I also believe that this is one of the reasons America (and other Western countries) are so attractive to people from emerging economies. Not only are there jobs in America, there are also free schools and free health services.

It's not surprising that this creates hostility. American workers are taxed to pay for schools, roads, hospitals, medicare, the military, and everything else. They can't afford to charge lower labor rates because they have to pay for America's government infrastructure. Illegal immigrants can afford to charge less because they are often times avoiding these additional costs. So, it should not be surprising that Americans can be found to be upset that not only are they paying for services for illegal immigrants, they are also losing their jobs to them because illegal immigrants can undercut their prices.

The "problem", however, is not the immigrants that are searching for a better life. The problem is that we have made a number of resources "public goods", and this has resulted in over-consumption. Not only is the American taxpayer over-consuming, we are also attracting outsiders to the feeding trough.

The problem is free-riding, and it's not a cultural problem, it's an economic problem. The solution is to get rid of all government services as well as income taxes. Then all workers will be competing on an equal playing field. It is unlikely that those that don't want to learn the language or assimilate into the culture will find many opportunities here, because their competitive advantage (lower labor prices) will have evaporated. Those that still wish to come here and succeed will not be met with the same resentment because they will not be viewed as free-riders.

Is this solution palatable to American culture? Of course not, but it's still valuable to know what the real problem is, who is at fault, and what the real solution is. Once again, the problem relates to market distortions caused by the government which have resulted in cultural conflicts, and the solution is removing the governments influence.