help a sista out: the politics edition

[autodidactic]

I always wondered why we couldn't, or rather, shouldn't have open borders like a lot of European countries. Why does it work over there, and not over here? Or am I mistaken and it simply doesn't work anywhere?

Comments

[st_ranger]

Open borders in Europe are a fairly recent thing. Now we have conspiracy theorists who think a "North American Union" is in the offing and it will be a horrible one world order blah blah blah etc etc etc

[st_ranger]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

[roseseule]

Because Americans are a much more closed and paranoid society. Any politician who brought such a thing up would be out on his or her ear within two years if not sooner.

[autodidactic]

OMG, Vas, what the hell do you think of this?!

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/04/29/here-comes-our-51st-state

[autodidactic]

My Puerto Rican supervisor, a 51 year old Democrat lady with a son in the Army, says that she's worried that if they are abandoned financially by the U.S. that her mother, an 80 year old woman, will be forced to farm sugarcane instead of getting Social Security. I think she's got a point, but I'm just afraid for Puerto Ricans, in more ways than one.

[chipnic]

We've had open borders for the last 20 years. It hasn't worked well. The most stressed counties in the US have illegal immigrant problems: http://www.electricmotorwarehouse.com/whole_House_Fan_Motor.htm... )