The nation that demonstrated the inestimable strengths of capitalism was founded by self-starters who arrived from elsewhere, which leads us to the next factor vital for economic growth: immigration. Everyone living today in the United States either came himself or has ancestors who said goodbye to everyone and everything they had ever known and came to a strange land in search of a better—and more prosperous—life. It was true in the 17th century, when people crossed the Atlantic in small sailing ships that took two months to reach America. It was true in the early 20th century, when immigrants arrived at Ellis Island in steerage. It is equally true today, when immigrants arrive by bus and by jet, and, not infrequently, at night and on foot.

If the United States is famous for its get-up-and-go, it is because we all have ancestors who got up and went in search of economic opportunity. Those who arrived as slaves, and thus had no choice about it, survived an ordeal that is utterly beyond modern imagination and passed that incredible strength down to their descendants.

As in the days after World War I, when immigration was restricted for the first time in American history, anti-immigration sentiments have been rising in this country. No one argues with the idea that the United States needs to get control of its borders so we might control immigration. That is a task that the federal government has singularly failed to do, although progress is now being made.

But the idea that this country has no room for immigrants is nonsense. Of the countries around the world, the United States ranks 179th in population density, with 83 people per square mile. The Netherlands has 1,041, Israel 961, Japan 873, the United Kingdom 660, Germany 593, China 360. Excluding people who, like our ancestors, want to seek their fortunes in America is to exclude some of the most motivated, hardworking, and creative people. Why would we want to do that?

Even worse is the current regulation that requires students in graduate programs at American universities to return to their native countries once they complete their studies, even though many of them would like to stay and become highly productive citizens. This is not a brain drain; it is a brain expulsion. In an era when intellectual capital is the most valuable form of wealth there is, this is idiotic public policy. We need these immigrants in order to exploit the greatest resource created in the last 75 years—a resource made literally out of sand.

from Growth:  The Only Way Out of this Mess – The American past offers the best guide to a prosperous future by John Steele Gordon in the July/ August, 2011 Commentary Magazine

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