The Prospects of Liberty in a Rapidly Diversifying America. (New Reason Podcast)
Nick Gillespie, Shikha Dalmia, Avik Roy, and Charles C.W. Cooke talk about immmigration, limited government, and cosmopolitanism.
In the latest Reason Podcast, Nick Gillespie moderates a lively and sometimes sharp-elbowed discussion about race, immigration, multiculturalism, and libertarianism in the coming age of Donald Trump. The participants are Shikha Dalmia of Reason, Avik Roy of The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, and Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review.
Anti-immigration conservatives and liberals have long argued that as the United States brings in more foreigners, our common culture and values slip further and further away from the nation's founding ideals of limited government and self-sufficiency. Trump supporters who cheered the candidate's plan to curtail immigration from Mexico and ban Muslims from entering the country also often stressed the we're just importing "Democratic" voters who will expand welfare. Is any of that true? And what about the shrinking-but-still-large numbers of native-born whites who had the clout to elect (if barely) the most restrictionist (and protectionist) president since at least World War II?
Government debt continues to grow and spending as a percentage of the GDP has stayed near post-WWII highs. Trump's spending plan hardly reins in such largess even as his tax plan threatens to reduce revenues (and thus raise deficits) by massive amounts. What is the effect of such policies on libertarian visions for smaller, cheaper, and less-intrusive government? Will Trump end the federal war on pot even if he's ramping up the war on immigrants? Will more protectionist economic policy be offset by more wide-open energy or education plans? We're just a few weeks away from the start of President Trump's first term and only this much is certain: It is going to be a hell of a ride.
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Produced by Ian Keyser and Mark McDaniel.