Abolish Borders

LINES DRAWN BY GOVERNMENTS DON’T HAVE MORAL MAGIC.

- CHRISTOPHER FREIMAN

YOU'VE PROBABLY MOVED across state lines at some point in your life. Maybe it was to attend college or take a higher-paying job. Maybe you wanted to live closer to friends and family after having kids or to join a new religious or political community. It could even be as simple as deciding to move from Dallas to Philadelphia because you prefer attending the home games of a successful football team.

No right-minded person would have the government interfere with any of this. If a business offers you a job and you accept, that's between you and the business-not you, the business, and the state. The same goes for buying a house from a willing seller or joining a welcoming religious congregation. To borrow from Robert Nozick, these are "capitalist acts between consenting adults." Granted, these capitalist acts took place across state borders, but so what? The rights to offer and take jobs, buy and sell property, and assemble freely don't depend on your location relative to a government-drawn line.