Thursday, December 4, 2008

Liberty's Apothecary responds to Goldwater Institute report on Sheriff Arpaio

I generally agree with everything the Goldwater Institute puts out, but Liberty's Apothecary has an interesting rebuttal to their latest report criticizing Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The libertarian Goldwater Institute takes issue with Arpaio over his crime suppression sweeps targeting illegal immigrants, because philosophically the think tank leans towards open borders.

But that brings us to an interesting quandary - is it really libertarian to favor open borders, IF we know we're never going to get rid of the social welfare state? As long as illegal immigrants are using public welfare benefits in disproportionate numbers, doesn't that sort of destroy any advocacy for open borders, because open borders in essence would increase costs to taxpayers, something libertarians oppose?

I think libertarians would be better off focusing on shrinking social welfare programs, rather than capitulating like the neocons and accepting them. When you make an argument based on a socialist premise, your argument is going to be flawed every time.

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