smc, while I agree with your contention that there is no direct link between race and criminal behavior, I don't take that conclusion as far as you. Because I believe there's such a thing as being racist and there's such a thing as being blind.
It would be racist for me to dislike or not trust a Mexican because of his race and nothing else. However, it would be BLIND of me to not notice that the majority of drugs being smuggled across our southwestern border are being done so by Mexican cartels. Does this observation make me racist? I think not. I realize that they're not engaging in the drug trade BECAUSE of their race, but I can draw observations that include race as a component.
Relative to your thoughts on a world without borders, I actually agree with you to some extent. However, we'd have to have a TRULY global economy where there would be no unfair tax advantages or social services to be derived from moving to one place or another. People would move purely for the scenery and weather. But when you have disparate economic incentives (such as free emergency room services, social welfare, higher wages, lower taxes, etc., etc.) it makes no sense to allow unrestricted free flow of people. In order to maintain the disparate economic incentives, you need borders. Now me, I'd just as soon take down all the incentives across every nation and let people move where they want. But we both know that won't be happening anytime soon.
As an example of a lesser known disparate economic advantage is the subsidy of grain like corn coupled with NAFTA. Because our government subsidizes corn (and the Mexican government does not), we are able to sell at prices below the fair market price. This put millions of Mexican farmers out of business and in search of work elsewhere (like across the border).
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