Imagine There's No Country

Thinking about the nation-born terrorist problem we have here in the United States, and how our politicians have been attacked and openly admitted being scared to vote their conscience...

My second iteration of my “Imagine” series is also loosely based on the Lennon song: imagine there’s no country. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of folks might take that out of context and think I’m advocating for open borders. I really don’t care that much about borders being opened or closed, but I am interested in looking at the pros and cons of easing immigration restrictions. And to truly examine this, I look no further than within the United States itself. Of course, I’ll be touching on international conditions too, to extrapolate a bit. But let’s start here.

And let’s start with a road trip from Texas to Washington, D.C.

I’ve taken that road trip. And I’ve taken it many ways: flight, bus, and driving (and it’s a long way to drive). One interesting thing that I’ve noticed is that not a single time was I interrogated for crossing state lines. In fact, when driving across state lines, I’ve often even missed the road sign that indicated I was doing exactly that. I’ve had to show identification to board a flight, and to confirm I was who I said I was when hopping aboard a Greyhound bus, in order to purchase a ticket. In the latter case, I’m relatively certain I could have gotten a ticket without any identification at all. I was using credit cards, so I had to show identification, but otherwise, I may not have had to.

Now consider driving to Canada. Similar experience once upon a time. I crossed without showing any identification at all, both ways. Yet traversing the border to Mexico required a bit more planning, and I definitely needed identification when I took that trip. But think about state-to-state travel for a minute.

Trade can flow uninterrupted state-to-state because there are few barriers in place. Relationships are forged among people across state lines pretty easily, and if one state starts acting up, then people are free to move to another: people can easily vote with their feet. This is better for citizens, and to an extent, holds states accountable. As long as people can leave the state, the state at least has to care somewhat about keeping them there. And without borders, they have to do it through policy. It’s a test, and may the best policy win.

So what’s up with the barriers for international travel? I can’t answer fully because I don’t really understand. This may be because I know that there are plenty of people right here in this country who would do me harm.

If I’m willing to tolerate people moving freely through this nation, many of whom would want me dead, being half-black, half-white, then why am I putting up all of these barriers to stop people from moving to America who just want a better life?

What are the borders for? I’m not suggesting we don’t identify who these people are, as even people born here need some sort of identification in a lot of daily life, but what’s the difference between someone coming to Oregon from Alabama and someone coming in from Mexico? The only difference I can see is the weird assumption that people make that Americans are safer than Mexicans. And then we have to ask the question, why then is the Canadian border so porous? I guess Canadians are safer than Mexicans, too? (Super weird to me, because I’ve heard of Alberta. If you don’t know what I mean, look it up.)

Imagine if we didn’t have those borders. Or…at least if the borders were easier to cross and we didn’t have rules limiting immigration. Imagine if we had a world where all you had to do to migrate permanently to another country was pack up like the Clampetts from Beverly Hillbillies, and take off with everything you own hitched to the top of your car? Imagine the savings on the expense of militarizing a border with one of our ally nations. I’m talking about Mexico, which is not, despite what some believe, our enemy. Imagine if all you had to do was show identification to cross, and boom, you’re allowed to stay? No need for all the military LARPing. Do you have any idea how expensive it is to do the performative military posturing that Greg Abbot likes to do?

What if we were to redirect those funds to feeding our children?

I’m not asking you to agree. I’m just asking you to imagine and ask yourself some questions about why we have the border policies we do.

Is it really to keep you safer?

I don’t feel that way. What if instead of more rigid borders, we had a deeper working relationship with our neighboring countries? What if we collaborated closely on tracking and enforcing laws we all agree on? We trust the FBI to keep us safe within our nation. What if we had an Interpol-type organization that supported the North and South American nations collaborating against criminals instead of the constant animosity and combativeness we levy against our neighbors?

All it takes is a little imagination to see that our reasoning doesn’t necessarily hold water regarding who our enemy is…or isn’t.

Let me put it this way: Mexico doesn’t have a school shooting almost every week. America does. And the difference between Mexican Cartels and American ones is that American ones are propped up by subsidies, billionaires, and pardons (like the Binance guy and the Pharma bro, who are now both out walking our streets). The two-tier justice system shields a lot of that from scrutiny, but we know in our bones what the truth is. Maybe it’s time to consider our policies through the lens of what’s actually happening in our nation, instead of our perceived fears of “the others”.

Maybe.