this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2024
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I have never once heard and have not been able to imagine an explanation of how not having borders could possibly work.
All immigration is a net positive to the economy in a number of different ways, and most of "problems" are caused by material conditions created by having classes of citizens versus non citizens. The US basically had open borders for much of its history and that's a big reason why it became such an industrial powerhouse.
The original idea behind physical border control has more to do with espionage and sabotage than restricting immigration.
What do you mean "how it works"? What function would 'having no borders' serve?
Ask the EU.
Which drowns refugees seeking asylum in the Mediterranean? That EU?
Well, they used to kill each other not so long ago. Look at the 20th century (or any previous one) - they hated each other. They've opened lots of borders since then and it was a gradual process with lots of negotiations and conditions. I'm sure you don't think it's possible to open a border without proper preparation.
They have a lot of borders.
They're similar to the US under the Articles of Confederation. Separate states with free passage among them. Going from France to Germany is effectively the same as going from Georgia to Tennessee.
Exactly, the US also used to have serious borders, now you can travel and work anywhere you want. EU is more interesting in this case because it's more recent and it consists of national states.
Free passage, but limited rights. In the US, you could move to a state with "easier" welfare programs, and collect them... whereas in the EU (Schengen), you're not allowed to stay longer than 90 days at a time without having a job/being able to support yourself.
EU has borders though, it just functions like the United States does (in a republican wet dream) in that it's a conglomerate of a bunch of "states". ask the UK fucks that get kicked out of Spain now. No borders inside the territory but there's absolutely borders on the outside.
Yes. It used to be a bunch of more or less national states mosty at war with each other though. The fact Schengen was created is pretty mind blowing to me.
A example that’s not borderlessness, but still interesting, was the Behind the Bastards episode on Harlan Crow which talked about how there was seasonal migration of people from Mexico into the US during peak agricultural seasons. They would return to Mexico in the winter, but the introduction of a hard border incentivized people to remain in the US.
It seems the hardening the border lead to the exact thing Harlan Crow and the other racist trash were trying to fight, increased immigration.
Simple. In the past there is no "border". You are someone from Frankfurt who came to Paris to set up business and there was no question asked.
In the past that was true of certain classes, other classes were tied to the land and forbidden from leaving their manor lord's land.
Notice how there is no border between your town and the next one? Same, but on a larger scale.
Yes, but the next town over is protected by the same military, is under almost exactly the same laws, is covered by essentially the same tax system, and so-on.
If you're suggesting eliminating borders once there's one world government covering every country and a planetwide tax system, then sure. Until then, it seems like it would be a disaster.
But there is...
There's the border, then there's The Border. One is a line drawn on a map for administrative purposes, sometimes comes with its own road sign. The other is a checkpoint where your documents are handed over and you're at the mercy of the border authority. Usually doesn't happen between towns, but those are pretty popular in places like Soviet Germany, apartheid South Africa and the West Bank for example.
Internal border control is common in East Asia. India, China, North Korea, Bhutan, Malaysia and Vietnam have it with varying degrees of strictness.
You can just keep going where the border would be.