Friday, May 05, 2006

Ayn Rand and Immigration

Does anyone know what Ayn Rand's views on immigration were? ARI type Objectivists are generally supportive of open borders (see the editorials of Tracinski and Binswanger). On the other hand, Rand would speak of "national self interest," which might justify restrictions on immigration.

2 comments:

John Enright said...

I don't have a good cite for you, just memory of a Q&A, but she was generally pro-immigration, particularly for people who wanted freedom.

Anonymous said...

I don't recall a single published or unpublished remark by Rand in favor of restricting immigration to the United States.

Rand's notion of "national self-interest" does seem to have nationalistic overtones. But she brought it up only in discussions of foreign aid, diplomacy, involvement in foreign wars, and the like.