The (bygone) conservative interest in open borders
 

The Wall Street Journal, in 1984 (on the Fourth of July, no less) ran an editorial explicitly positioned against "'nativist' Americans" and calling for "a five-word constitutional amendment: there shall be open borders"
 
Slobodian is careful to note that they defended this position "in economic rather than humanitarian terms" (80)
 
in 1990, they observed that "human capital [was] increasingly the coin of international 'competitiveness'," positioning them in line with something like a Mises-ian advocacy of free human movement [see separate note]

> from Quinn Slobodian's Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right (2024)

> tagged with #economics, #border, #globalization

> created September 7, 2026 at 9:55:23 AM


> part of unfinished everything


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unfinished everything is an original work / ongoing project (1997-present) by jeremy p. bushnell

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