More compassion needed.

In the matter of immigration, there is a distinction between hospitality and compassion. Yes, we are a hospitable nation, and that's fine, but we don't have to be hospitable to be compassionate. If we were truly being compassionate regarding, say, Mexicans, then we would have to think of all Mexicans, not just the ones lucky enough to come here, either legally or illegally. If we really wanted to be compassionate regarding the rest of the world, here are some of the steps we could take:

1. Stop giving foreign aid. Foreign aid supports the collectivist nature of governments, which impoverishes and oppresses their people. It also dumps free goods into the marketplace of other nations, damaging local economies and national pride.

2. Eliminate loan guarantees and contributions to all international loan bodies, such as the IMF. They also support the collectivist tendencies of government and interfere with the market economies of those countries, causing economic hardship.

3. Withdraw from the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, and all other supra-national quasi-governmental bodies. These also have a powerful collectivizing and impoverishing effect on foreign nations.

4. Link trade and diplomatic status of other nations with the size of the nation's government. Mole government would result in lower status/higher tariffs, on a sliding scale. Government size could even be tied to loan guarantees, if guarantees are not eliminated. Less government will bring greater prosperity and increased ability to pay back on past loans.

5. Start practicing the principles of constitutional government in this nation. Bring back the gold standard, shut down the Federal Reserve, cut back our regulations, cut back government spending and taxes, cut back import/export red tape. Make the economy so vibrant that it becomes obvious to all nations and all people in the world that freedom begets prosperity. Make it extremely difficult for other countries to compete with the United States without cutting back on government. Their people would have a clear reason to demand change, and would probably do so, with the attendant increase in prosperity for them.

6. Give tax breaks to American companies that compete with subsidized industries abroad, such as steel. Remove the incentive for those countries to continue this type of interventionist policy.

7. Promote the concepts of economic freedom in every part of the world wherever possible, in whatever way possible, by the government within the limits of the Constitution and by American people and organizations. This can be done through radio and satellite TV broadcasting, Internet, policy statements, in political communications, and in the general demeanor of our government and people. It is quite arguably in our national security interest to live in a world of prosperous and free nations, so it would seem acceptable from a constitutional standpoint for it to cost us a few pennies.

There are many points where American self-interest and being interested in the rest of the world coincide. This proposal places an interest in the whole, instead of just in ourselves, making the program much more saleable in the modern world, and also more permanent. A tough immigration posture such as the one proposed in the May 1 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN and in so many of its past issues is not ruthless; it is ruthlessly compassionate. It forces people to agitate for change in their countries, instead of holding out for the hope of coming to ours.

CLIFF ADAMS

Erding, Germany