What Would People Sacrifice to Close Borders?

Closing Borders: What Sacrifices Are on the Table?

A forum thread poses the question in reverse: what would individuals be willing to sacrifice for Spain to expel all immigrants and admit no one else? Responses range from the welfare state to civil rights, all hitting the same wall: almost no one wants their own people to pay the cost.

Sacrificing the Welfare State to Shut the Door

One part of the discussion suggests that the first things to go would be what proponents claim immigration sustains: the economy, the welfare state, and pensions. One participant states they would be willing to sacrifice "the economy, the welfare state, and pensions" and to "live like my grandparents" if it meant closing the border.

Rights and Freedoms Also on the List of Givebacks

Another part of the debate takes the sacrifice into legal territory: giving up rights acquired in democracy. One participant lists women's suffrage, divorce, abortion, euthanasia, freedom of worship, and same-sens marriage. This is the most uncomfortable confession: some would accept curtailing their own freedoms to limit those of others. The fact that these renunciations are stated so casually says a lot about the environment they come from.

But Almost No One Puts Their Family on the List

The point of friction arises when translating the desire into personal cost. When asked about real sacrifices — family, assets, jobs — most back down and point to others: politicians, officials, those who voted. One participant warns of the bias of someone else's war: it's easy to opine on collective consequences when you believe they won't affect you. In the first person, almost everyone gets off the bus.

As long as the debate remains in the realm of desire, more than one person will discover that their willingness to sacrifice was, above all, rhetorical.