Friday, November 29, 2013

Comments on The Machinery of Freedom

"Critics of free immigration worry that immigrants might change the country, make it more socialist, more crime ridden, more like the places they are coming from, but offer no strong reason to expect those particular effects. Leaving the place where you grew up to move somewhere very different is, after all, evidence that you prefer the latter. As I pointed out in one exchange, the Volokh brothers, associated with the popular libertarian/conservative legal blog the Volokh Conspiracy, are immigrants from the ex-Soviet Union. While Eugene and Sasha Volokh may be slightly more socialist than I am, they are much less socialist than most of their fellow academics, not entirely surprising given that they have experienced socialism at first hand."

'via Blog this'

Professor Friedman is soliciting criticism of newest chapters of the Third Edition of the Machinery of Freedom.

With regards to the assertion above, polls show that Hispanics are by in large in favor of the welfare state and Obamacare, while disfavoring Capitalism.

Maybe we can assume that Hispanics that want to come the U.S. are self-selecting for a life of capitalism and so favor the same? I think it's assuming quite a bit to think that people who are seeking or reaping the benefits of capitalism necessarily see what is causing those benefits. If that was the case, Americans would be much more pro-capitalism. Additionally, both Republicans and Democrats seem to think Hispanic immigrants are Democrat voters. Since they have a keen personal interest in the subject, I assume they know what they are talking about.

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