Bryan Caplan has a clever argument against people who oppose immigration on the basis of demographics (e.g. "I don't want too many brown Muslim people to come in and change my country."). His argument is, Okay, then we should allow an offsetting amount of the opposite demographic (in this case, white Christian people) so that the total demographic makeup is unchanged. After all, migration is as much a right for brown Muslims as it is for white Christians.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if someone asked him, he'd elaborate on his reasons to great length. But, tellingly, he didn't find it necessary to outline his reasoning in his comment.
In response, famous blog commentator E. Harding (he is everywhere) writes:
Makes sense, but there really aren't that many White high IQ conservatives outside the U.S. willing to move here. And opening immigration from any category of men substantially leads to a slippery slope -your proposal is an unstable equilibrium.
And I don't mind Christian Arab immigration from, say, Lebanon. Maybe also Iraq and Palestine. But by no means Syria.The truly stunning thing about this comment is E. Harding's unstated supposition that readers happen to care who's on his "do import" and "don't import" list.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure if someone asked him, he'd elaborate on his reasons to great length. But, tellingly, he didn't find it necessary to outline his reasoning in his comment.
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