Friday, March 9, 2012

Sometimes I don't understand how Bryan Caplan's brain works

I was baffled and to be honest a little put-off by his post comparing opposition to immigration to Jim Crow the other day. Thankfully, Gene Callahan has a great response so I don't have to put one together. I also fully endorse Gene's footnote.

I'd like to see Bryan share his insights with someone who lived under Jim Crow and get their reaction. Administration of citizenship in a community - even if we think it's done in the wrong way - seems considerably different to me than actually denying the rights of citizenship to actual citizens. The minute we get a world government, some of Bryan's concerns might apply better.

2 comments:

  1. Caplan is generally my go to guy for 'free market double standards' contradictions. Like Sumner, I often find him completely incomprehensible.

    There's also a smug undertone of him 'getting' economics and others - particularly the general public - having not reached his state of enlightenment.

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  2. "Administration of citizenship in a community - even if we think it's done in the wrong way - seems considerably different to me than actually denying the rights of citizenship to actual citizens."

    I think Bryan's post was asking what makes the difference. "It seems different to some Dan" is a pretty weak argument.

    Help me to see it your way: What would be the set of assumptions that I'd need to make to share your view that requiring citizens to discriminate against noncitizens is considerably different from requiring whites to discriminate against blacks?

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