121. The divisive nature of borders
The
thought that borders are divisive is hardly ground breaking. Dividing is, in
fact, what they are designed to do, and they do it very effectively. Modern
humans think of borders as if they had always existed, we read and study
national histories and assume that the border, as a limitation of the freedom
of humans to roam, was part of this history. The fact is, it is not. Borders
and passports are a XX Century invention, previously, there were no
restrictions in movements between countries. You could pick up your stuff and
go anywhere you wanted, if you had the means. This ability to easily migrate
was one of the engines of development, progress and wealth redistribution.
There is a lot of evidence that eliminating borders today would have similar
consequences, greatly reducing poverty and increasing most people’s standard of
living. The idea of removing, them, however, is anathema. Humans do not like
change. If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. But why not fix it if it is broken?
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