The Volokh Conspiracy
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New Podcasts on Nationalism and Immigration/Border Issues
One is an interview for the new Argue with Me podcast series, and the other is part of Michael Liebowitz's Rational Egoist series.
Two podcast interviews I recently did are now available on Youtube. The first is an interview about nationalism which is part of Gerry Bourdeau's new Argue with Me podcast series. It is about the critique of nationalism outlined in my recent National Affairs article, "The Case Against Nationalism" (coauthored with Cato Institute scholar Alex Nowrasteh):
We discuss what nationalism is, why it's awful (including some ways in which it is similar to socialism), and potential alternatives to it.
The Argue With Me series is relatively new. But Bourdeau has already posted interviews with several prominent (mostly libertarian or libertarian-leaning) economists and political theorists, including David Friedman and Chris Freiman. Check it out.
The second podcast is about the legal and moral dimensions of the current situation at the US southern border. It is part of Michael Liebowitz's Rational Egoist podcast series.
We cover a number of issues, including whether illegal migration qualifies as "invasion" (subject of a notable recent court decision that came down only after we filmed this), the conflict between Texas and the federal government, and how to address the border situation in accordance with libertarian principles (and liberal ones, more generally).
Along the way, we also discuss a couple of really awful legal arguments that have gotten a considerable attention on Twitter/X (e.g.—claims that private citizens who house migrants are somehow violating the Third Amendment). The useful lesson here is that the fact that someone is a Twitter "influencer" with a large following, doesn't mean they know what they are talking about. This is true of the right-wing "influencers" we discuss in the podcast, but it's also true of many left-wing ones, as well.
I outlined my take on what to do with the border situation in greater detail in this USA Today article (coauthored with David Bier). See also this post on why the supposed "migrant crisis" is in in fact primarily caused by migration restrictions and regulations banning most asylum seekers from working legally (exclusionary zoning is also a significant contributing factor in some cities).