The Immigrant Crisis in the United States

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Sally Kohn: I am simply flabbergasted that despite all of our problems, the smartest, most interesting and productive people in the world still want to live and work in the United States. We don't have enough immigration. And we need more immigration and we need more comfort with the idea that America can be a better place when it is open to new ideas. It's always this tendentiousness about whether it's Republicans or Democrats, there's always some kind of bloodthirsty xenophobia against immigrants. But if you really look at what makes us who we are as Americans, then why do we care so much about how other countries perceive us?

Nick Gillespie is the host of the Reason Interview and an editor at large at Reason. Nick is one of the most interesting libertarian thinkers in America, and has been described by the New York Times as being to libertarianism “what Lou Reed is to rock ‘n’ roll, the quintessence of its outlaw spirit". Important Links:

Show Notes:

Is libertarianism dead?
Saying what you think
The case for rational optimism
Labels and empathy
President Nixon, the Great Reshuffle, Bitcoin
Bureaucracy and responsiveness
The rapidly changing world
Prohibition and legalisation
Why America does not have enough immigration
The enfranchising power of social media
Obscenity and moral panics
Empathy with the dispossessed
And MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong with America; by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch
The Rational Optimist; by Matt Ridley
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
The Population Bomb; by Paul Ehrlich
The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy; by Joseph Schumpeter
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson
The War on Alcohol; by Liza McGirr
Immigration and Freedom; by Chandran Kukathas
The Illuminatus! Trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
What It Means to be a Libertarian: a Personal Interpretation; by Charles Murray
Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society; by Tipper Gore
Ulysses; by James Joyce
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown