{"id":1758,"date":"2011-05-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/multiracial.com\/wp\/index.php\/2011\/05\/27\/immigration-statism-vs-economic-liberty\/"},"modified":"2021-07-04T06:29:04","modified_gmt":"2021-07-04T06:29:04","slug":"immigration-statism-vs-economic-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/27\/immigration-statism-vs-economic-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration Statism Vs. Economic Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

IMMIGRATION STATISM VS. ECONOMIC LIBERTY<\/a><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

by\u00a0<\/span>Jacob G. Hornberger<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

May 27, 2011<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Supreme Court has upheld an Arizona law that imposes harsh penalties on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. The penalty of violating the law entails the suspension of a firm\u2019s business license. The law requires state companies to verify that employees are legal by using a federal database.<\/p>\n

Oh, for the days of substantive due process! That was the period of Supreme Court history when the Court protected people\u2019s fundamental rights from infringements by both the federal government and the state governments. Federal infringements were declared unconstitutional by virtue of the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and state infringements by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.<\/p>\n

Or, perhaps I should backtrack a bit. It\u2019s not that the Supreme Court won\u2019t protect some fundamental rights from both federal and state assault. They certainly do. It\u2019s just that ever since the Franklin Roosevelt statist revolution, the Court has refused to protect economic liberty from both state and federal infringements.<\/p>\n

For example, if Arizona had enacted a law punishing employers who gave speeches and handed out pamphlets opposing Arizona\u2019s immigration law, the Supreme Court would have easily declared the law to be an unconstitutional infringement on the fundamental right of freedom of speech. The Court would have relied on the Fourteenth Amendment\u2019s due process clause to protect people\u2019s right to free speech.<\/p>\n

The same goes for religious liberty, another well-recognized fundamental right. If Arizona required people to attend church on Sunday, the Court would hold that the law is an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of religion.<\/p>\n

The problem arises with respect to economic liberty, which Supreme Court justices, like good, little statists everywhere, look upon not as a fundamental right but rather as a privilege bestowed on people by government.<\/p>\n

Look at that Arizona immigration law. How does it punish employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens? By revoking their licenses to do business in the state.<\/p>\n

Did you catch that? A license to do business! What\u2019s a license? It\u2019s a government-granted permission \u2014 a permission that must be bought and paid for and issued before someone can go into business.<\/p>\n

In other words, in order to sustain and improve their lives through labor and economic activity, people must ask for permission from the state. That\u2019s as antithetical to the notion of fundamental rights as one can get.<\/p>\n

Did I mention that businesses in Cuba and China must also secure licenses from the state as a prerequisite to engaging in economic activity? Statists everywhere think alike.<\/p>\n

Do you see how different statists are from libertarians? Libertarians hold that a person has the fundamental, God-given right to not only speak his mind and decide whether to go to church but also the right to sustain his life through labor by engaging in economic activity, including the buying and selling of products and services, and deciding what to do with his own money.<\/p>\n

Given that economic liberty is a fundamental, God-given right, people should no more have to secure a license from the government to exercise that right than they should to give a speech or operate a church.<\/p>\n

After all, it\u2019s your life, isn\u2019t it? The government didn\u2019t create you, God did or, if you prefer, nature did. Whatever talents and abilities a person has have come to him from nature and nature\u2019s God, not from government. You have the inalienable right to use those talents and abilities by offering goods and services to other people, who have the right to choose to purchase them or not.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the fruits of your earnings belong to you, not to the government, and you have the fundamental, God-given right to do whatever you want with your own money. If you choose to use your money to hire Mexicans, Guatemalans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, or Americans, that is your right, just as it is their right to accept or refuse your offer of employment.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what economic liberty is all about. Unfortunately, we were all born and raised in an age of statism, one in which statists are everywhere, including on the Supreme Court. As such, we have to put up with such statist nonsense as occupational licensure and sanctions for associating with employees that statists don\u2019t like or approve of.<\/p>\n

As statism generally continues heading people into endless economic woes, we can only hope that there will be a rediscovery and renewed appreciation for the principles of fundamental rights and economic liberty. Wouldn\u2019t it be great to see the following amendment added to the Constitution: \u201cNo law shall be passed by either the federal government or the states respecting the regulation of commerce or abridging the free exercise thereof\u201d?<\/p>\n

Jacob G. Hornberger<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Jacob G. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. He was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and received his B.A. in economics from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from the University of Texas. He was a trial attorney for twelve years in Texas. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Dallas, where he taught law and economics. In 1987, Mr. Hornberger left the practice of law to become director of programs at the Foundation for Economic Education. He has advanced freedom and free markets on talk-radio stations all across the country as well as on Fox News\u2019 Neil Cavuto and Greta van Susteren shows and he appeared as a regular commentator on Judge Andrew Napolitano\u2019s show\u00a0<\/span>Freedom Watch<\/em>. View these interviews at\u00a0<\/span>LewRockwell.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and from\u00a0<\/span>Full Context<\/a>. Send him\u00a0<\/span>email<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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