CAPITALISM AND IMMIGRATION. PART II.

What is the political side of the current migration crisis in Europe and the ongoing massive migration into the United States?

Of course, economics is still a very large part of it, but to a large extent it takes a back seat to politics, and that political side of the current problem with migrants is hardly to be ignored. It is therefore safe to propose that the present-day migration crisis in Europe, and to a considerable extent the somewhat older problem of immigration in the United States, result from a combination of economic and political factors, a powerful combination, to be sure, making the solution of the problem difficult, if not impossible.

Here we come to another fork in the road. This time it is not politics versus economics, but within the political dimension, intended versus unintended consequences. It looks like the intended consequences of virtually unrestrained migration are open borders, a globalist dream. The influx of immigrants into developed countries is supposed to dilute the nationalist core of their societies, to make them more internationalist-friendly. The fact that forced internationalism must surely backfire with a fierce nationalist backlash is one of those must-be-anticipated scenarios, yet hypocritically it falls under the category of unintended results. As though anticipated and unintended can ever be reconciled in the logical slide from the fanciful intention toward the unintended inevitable…

One can easily brand the migration disaster as the worst mistake committed by the globalists, but it has to be acknowledged that unrestrained migration is in fact not a mistake, but the globalist sine qua non, the dream that needs to come true in order to validate globalism as such. The admitted failure of the globalist ideology is no excuse for the havoc it has unleashed. The problem is that the globalist idea is more viable than its strongest repudiation, its exposure through any catastrophic debacle associated with it. This reminds me of the time when the world breathed easier having presumably been rid of the smallpox disease, until it was discovered that the biological warfare laboratories had never allowed the terrible disease to go away, preserving it in their arsenal of lethal weapons.

Such is indeed the problem with the ideology of globalism. Pronounced discredited and virtually dead, it is very much alive just because it cannot die. Wherever there is a thesis, an antithesis is born. There can be no light without darkness. There can be no liberalism without conservatism. There can be no internationalism without nationalism. Globalism is born as the antipode to isolationism. The latter stands for tightly closed borders, whereas globalism stands for a world without borders, an open society, albeit with severe hidden limitations.

I may be contradicted by pointing out that the current migrant crisis is a byproduct of war. To which I reply that the war in question is a product of the globalist offensive. Take it or leave it. Any time a country goes out of its borders and its sphere of vital national interests, it commits the globalist transgression and invites a nationalist backlash. Globalism is the folly of the strong, nationalism is the defense of the weak. Mind you, the nationalism of the strong is seldom called nationalism. It is better known as chauvinism…

But whether we call it nationalism or chauvinism, it is a fairly healthy phenomenon, because the chauvinism of the strong still promotes the national interest of the strong, and there is nothing sick about that.

The problem with globalism, and its difference in principle from great-power chauvinism, is that it does not promote any national interest. It is internationalist at heart, and any manifestation of nationalism is its enemy.

Hence, the problems of the world today, including the out-of-control migrant crisis and the emergence of the so-called” Islamic extremism” are not some monstrous creatures spawned by some spontaneous generation. They are all reactive to the onslaught of globalism. Globalism threatens nationalism, and nationalism responds with threats of its own… As the great German poet Heinrich Heine said it, “Es ist eine alte Geschichte, doch bleibt es immer neu…”

Bringing down national borders, the globalist dream. Isn’t it a second coming of the idea of a world communist revolution? An idea that has forever given a bad name to the early Christian idea and practice of communism! And by the way, isn’t the globalist idea that same old Trotskyite idea of a permanent revolution until all national borders fall?..

A lot of things have been understated in this entry or intentionally left to the reader to be further developed. At the end we return to the title question of this entry: Capitalism and Immigration. Let us not judge capitalism too harshly here. Ironically, labor force migration does not constitute a problem of principle. As we know, there are different varieties of capitalism, and healthy capitalist enterprise must not be blamed for the sins of its perverted siblings. I see nothing malignant in profit-oriented activities as such, as long as they do not undermine the foundation of the country’s national interest. Patriotism, according to Hobbes, is a contractual obligation of the citizen to the sovereign in exchange for the fulfillment of the other side’s obligations to the citizen. Unless the State becomes dysfunctional and inimical to the basic needs of its citizens, it is the duty of the citizens to pursue the national interests of their State.

The experience with globalist ideology and practice proves that globalism does not give a hoot for national interest. It is preoccupied with its internationalist, anti-nationalist agenda which, in my judgment, is the root of all evils plaguing the world today.

And so, what about capitalism and immigration? Don’t blame the crisis in the United States on capitalism. Don’t blame the migrant crisis in Europe on wars and rumors of wars. Nor should we attribute the swelling tide of militant nationalism and religious fanaticism to nationalism or religion. They are all reactive forces springing to life because of a single culprit, which is the delusional and destructive idea of globalism.