Vargas and Understatement

Surely Vargas is trying to build political support by using moderate language like "change the conversation" instead of alienating people with "Open borders for all!"

Open borders is not a popular idea, even among the left, or specifically the NYTimes.

There are heroes--Vargas to you, William Stuntz to me--that are pretty much heroic because they see and do things differently than we do, right? Heroes don't come easily, I guess because our definition and expectation hurdles are so incredibly high. Stuntz is heroic to me because--on top of his brilliance and priorities and execution--he thought so much better of others relative to himself, and there is no human reason I can see for him to have lived life in this way.

He hasn't read Principles of a Free Society, so he doesn't know that open borders is right.

"I am in awe of Jose Antonio Vargas. He has more courage in his little finger than I have in my whole body."

Really? It strikes me that most undocumented aliens have more courage than Jose Antonio Vargas. He is an educated and accomplished journalist who enjoys the support of influential people in the media. Most undocumented aliens are neither as educated nor accomplished and do not enjoy such support.

Thieves and squatters have courage. After all they have as little regard for property rights as Caplan does for Americans' right to determine who can reside on US soil.

Caplan basically believes law breaking is heroic if it coincides with HIS moral intuitions and others' rights be damned. I hope he doesn't mind when others' intuitions clash with his.

I really doubt that Vargas genuinely wants open borders. I think it's much more likely that he wants an easier path to citizenship or at least to legal residency for illegals who are already here.