Reconquista?

Give the land back is a faulty argument

If you pay much attention to the immigration debate you've likely heard someone argue that California ought to belong to Mexico.

During the 1800s, the argument goes, an imperialist America seized the present day Southwest. As a result, these people claim the United States hasn't any right to enact laws restricting the entry of Latinos to this territory. Illegal immigrants are cast as jilted victims taking back what's rightfully theirs.

This worldview is deeply mistaken. In fact it is so deeply mistaken that few people bother to refute it. This columnist finds that unfortunate. Even the worst ideas can endure when they're not directly challenged. At present there are people who earnestly believe the United States owes immigration spots to foreign Latinos to atone for historical sins.

Conor Friedersdorf goes on to rip that argument to shreds, read the rest here.

The funniest part of this argument: What would happen if they got what they wanted?

Oh, it'll never, ever happen. Americans always seem soft until crunch time, and then as many a dictator can attest, we are as fierce as a cornered Wolverine.

But what if they did get the land they claim to want?

How long would it take until it was every bit as corrupt as ole Mexico? How long would it take until the rule of law was a distant memory and la Mordida became the law of the land? How long until their new (most likely socialist) economy spluttered and died?

And of course the ultimate irony...illegal aliens from the new nation of Atzlan would start pouring across the new border into America. Yeah, pretty much the definition of irony.

People don't risk death to travel to this country becasue it's the worst place in the world. Quite to the contrary, I think it's a pretty great place, which is why I would like to protect it from those too stupid to understand the consequences of their actions or desires.

A small part of me almost wishes these Reconquista folks would get what they say they desire. I predict violent bloody revolutions within six months of they do.

And I'll be laughing across the new border, standing feet firmly planted in the good old USA.

h/t The Lonewacko

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