In truth, Newt Gingrich proposed something similar during the 2012 Republican primaries and President George W. Bush was a supporter of more open immigration.

And while some conservatives are anti-immigrant, many want America to continue to be a melting pot.

This split in the Republican Party is one reason many Republicans have become independents in the past twelve years--because the GOP too often seems to be against more openness for immigrants.

Today there are more independents than either Republicans or Democrats, and this is a new development of the 21^st Century.

From this perspective, there are really only two sides to everything in our politics: the Government view and the Freedom view.

I had several high school teachers who challenged this thinking.

Though I never heard them call themselves by the labels "Republican," "Democrat," or "Libertarian," they took their teaching roles to heart and frequently asked questions that made us really think. I was impressed with how dedicated they were.

They were deep thinkers, and each inspired me to be a better student because they cared about important ideas.

I especially remember one of these comments: "If you're going to argue that the Constitution is superior to the Communist Manifesto, don't you think you should read them both first? I can tell you've only read the Constitution, which is fine unless you're going to compare them."

I went home and asked my parents where one would find the Communist Manifesto.

They weren't sure where to look, and this was before the Internet, but we found a copy in an old collection of classics I had seen many times on the top shelf of a big bookcase in the basement.

I marked it up with red pen, and when I was done I took it and showed my teacher. He smiled, and then shared his view that Constitutional society is much better than anything Communism has to offer. "But you can't just assume it because other people say so," he said. "You have to do your homework."

Fast Forward to Today

We live in a world deeply divided by partisan views.

Many people judge the issues not so much by what they really think but rather according to what their favorite party has to say on each topic.

Fortunately, the Internet has fueled the growth of independents who aren't attached to any party and of many within the parties who think more independently than most in past generations.

Or, perhaps people always thought independently but in our generation it is just more accepted to openly discuss views that differ from the party line.

But the Freedom Party and the Government Party are still around.

Only, in reality, it seems more and more that both parties are actually Government Parties and nobody is really the Freedom Party anymore.

Nowhere is this more apparent than on the issue of immigration.

Both parties routinely promote Big Government solutions to immigration, and the traditional Government Party (Democratic) is the only one that seems to care about the freedom of immigrants.

That said, it has historically done very little to actually help them.

All of this seems strange.

The United States is, after all, a nation of immigrants.

My ancestors came from Switzerland and France, and my wife's ancestors came from England and Sweden, among other places.

Many of our predecessors came to America looking for economic opportunity, others for political freedom.

But they were immigrants.

The thing is, when most of them came to America, they weren't given any help except the one most important thing: freedom.

They became part of a nation where the words on the Statue of Liberty declared:

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp...
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"[i]

Think About These Words

"Storied pomp" means aristocratic polices that keep some people down and the upper classes in charge, and the poem declares that other nations can keep such bureaucratic laws.

Instead, it promises, in America we'll take anyone, any time.

It's hard to be more direct than the words "huddled masses," "wretched refuse" or "homeless, tempest-tossed."

America boldly declared to the world: "If you need freedom and opportunity, come to America."

We even flaunted it to the aristocratic, arrogant, bureaucratic nations of eighteenth-century Europe by telling them that in America we "lift our lamp beside the golden door!"

Of course, we had said all this in other words: "All men are created equal," "We the people," "government by, of and for the people," and "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

America stood for freedom--and for a long time in history we really meant it.

We Need a Party of Freedom Today

Not another Party of Big Government and certainly not more supporters of More Regulation, More Government Spending, and Less Openness.

John Quincy Adams wrote the gold-standard for immigration back in 1819:

"The American Republic invites nobody to come. We will keep out nobody. Arrivals will suffer no disadvantages as aliens. But they can expect no advantages either. Native-born and foreign-born face equal opportunities. What happens to them depends entirely on their individual ability and exertions, and on good fortune."[ii]

Note that the quote above was announced as the official statement of the U.S. State Department.  One European observer wrote of this policy:

"There is something magnificent about this declaration, penned by John Quincy Adams himself. It epitomizes the spirit of laissez-faire libertarianism which pervaded every aspect of American life at this time.... Libertarianism was, of course, based upon an underlying, total self-confidence in the future of the country."[iii] 

We have lost our confidence today, and in our fear some worry that immigrants will come and take our jobs, wealth and nation.

But our economy is not a zero-sum game.

Our attitude should be the American attitude: "We are free, and so we are unafraid. Good help is hard to find, so we'll be glad if immigrants add value and productivity to our businesses and economy. They can have these jobs; we'll build even more new businesses. The more freedom for everyone, the better!"

That's the American way. Or, at least, it once was.

We loved our freedom, and we thought all people in the world would be better off in America.

We welcomed them, gave them freedom and nothing else, and watched their successes turn to the benefit of us all.

We asked for nothing but freedom, and we wanted everyone to have the same freedoms we enjoyed.

This is how freedom works.

 I wish there was a Freedom Party today that stood for, well, freedom.

Let's open up our legal immigration.

As long as immigrants can be successful, they'll benefit all of us, and if they can't succeed they'll eventually go home.

Our problem isn't that immigrants take our jobs, but that our anti-business regulations send too many of our jobs and opportunities for entrepreneurship abroad.

We need to get our own financial house in order, and stop blaming immigrants for our failed economic policies.

As for current immigration policy, we have at least two major problems.

One is a Republican problem, and the other is a Democrat problem.

First, we don't openly welcome immigrants today.

We have far too many voices denigrating and persecuting those who come to our nation looking for freedom and prosperity; we have become an Aristocracy of the Native-Born.

We seem to believe that somehow it is okay to promote freedom for some while simultaneously urging the government to withhold it from others.

Second, we tend to absorb immigrants immediately into a welfare state.

The problem isn't with immigrants getting government welfare, it's with a government that gives massive amounts of federally-sponsored welfare at all.

Immigrants are iconic for their entrepreneurial spirit.

However, U.S. regulation and policy are a burden to all who seek to provide for themselves and give jobs to others, and perhaps the most vulnerable of would-be entrepreneurs are immigrants.

The disadvantaged--and everyone else--in our country would be well-served by policies that encourage and reward entrepreneurs, and our welfare roles would diminish - both from risk-taking business owners and from those they employ.

To get things right, to once again become a city on the hill, a beacon of freedom to the world, the United States needs a different national attitude about immigrants.

We need to be happy when they come here, enjoy freedom, seek prosperity and pass these blessings along to their families.

We should be honored to meet people who have the courage to pull up ties and move to another country to better support their families.

We should feel privileged to know them, and we should be impressed and inspired by their courage.

We should see in them the modern continuation of the freedom movement led by the pilgrims and pioneers.

Of course, if anyone - immigrant or not - engages in criminal behavior, we should respond accordingly; but if they are hard-working, law-abiding people (and the large majority are), we want them in America.

That's what freedom is all about.

Our American history has long invited immigrants to join us, partake in freedom, and help build America.

Freedom works, and we should want everyone to enjoy it.

That's what America is all about.

Where is the Party of Freedom today? As far as I can tell, it doesn't exist anymore.

We have two Big Government Parties, one with an emphasis on domestic welfare and the other with a focus on international programs.

There is a place for both views, but we also need another perspective, one that truly promotes freedom.

Here's What we Should Do About Immigration:

·         First, we should secure our borders. This one change would fix nearly all of the problems of alien crime and violence that plague our border states. The problems caused by drug cartels and human trafficking are not immigration issues;  they are crime issues, and they negatively affect the United States in New York, Chicago and many other places beyond the southern border states. We must see to national security and law enforcement--and these should not be confused with immigration policy.

·         Second, we must help the needy with sound economic policies that create opportunity and reward individual effort. Americans are a charitable people. Let's give private welfare the lead again and end federal welfare (with its waste, abuses and inefficient distribution of resources).

·         Third, we should open wide the door to legal immigration. We should make it possible for pretty much any law-abiding person to come to America and try to become successful. This is what we did in most of America's history, and the whole nation greatly benefitted from such openness.

Millions of European, African, Asian and other people came to America as immigrants, built businesses and lives and helped America become great.

Only nations in decline keep people in or keep people out, and nations that begin to keep people in or out inevitably go into decline.

America became great because of the combination of freedom and openness.

This is a reality. And if America keeps being stingy about immigration policy, it will stay in decline.

This is a rule of world history. Openness goes with freedom, and without openness freedom declines.

Let's get back to being a free nation, and the resulting freedom will greatly benefit native-born Americans and foreign-born immigrants alike.

There was a time when America stood for freedom, real freedom, for everyone, when we opened our doors to the world and were proud to offer them freedom.

We were bold back then, ready to face anything, because we were free and we knew it.

We knew we could do whatever was needed.

Freedom does that to people.

Decline, in contrast, turns us against others and makes us fearful of many potential threats.

Whining about immigrants isn't worthy of our American potential.

They won't hold us down. We are holding ourselves down--especially through too much government regulation.

We are a hardworking people, and it is time for a rebirth of the attitudes of freedom.

It is time to become once again like past generations of Americans: Bold. Confident. Optimistic. Assertive. Self-Possessed. Innovative. Tenacious. Unafraid. Frugal. Inventive. Courageous. Entrepreneurial. Free.

We need a comprehensive change that gives hard-working, freedom-loving people from around the world the opportunity to live in a truly free nation.

And the most important step is to return government to the levels outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

Most of all, we need a new attitude regarding immigrants.

Free nations in history are proud of their freedom, to the point that they invite the oppressed of the world to join them and reap the blessings of liberty.

When such nations begin feel closed or protective of their freedoms, it is because their freedom is in jeopardy--not from immigrants but from a government grown too big.

Our national problems are challenging, and at times they seem impossible to fix, but in reality the solutions are simple.

Let's take a page from the greatest example of freedom in history, America, and simply give freedom a try. Freedom matters. Freedom works.

Oliver DeMille is the author of The Coming Aristocracy, FreedomShift: 3 Choices to Reclaim America's Destiny, A Thomas Jefferson Education, and other books on freedom. His latest book, 1913, will be available in August 2012.

 

 
 

 

 

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