by Lee Duigon
December 21, 2023
Italy and the UK are beginning to talk seriously about limiting immigration—especially illegal immigration from Muslim countries—and France and Germany had better follow suit if they know what’s good for them. Can’t have all these jihad johnnies on the loose.
The problem, as stated by Giorgia Meloni, prime minister of Italy, is that certain varieties of Islam are simply “not compatible” with European values—surely the understatement of the year. Shari’a law, Islamic law, she says, is “impossible” for Europe. It has certain features—the death penalty for homosexuals, for instance—that just won’t fly in Europe. This just won’t do, she concludes.
Not that she knows, yet, what to do about it. She admits that. But she doesn’t want to float any policy that’s only so much window-dressing: that sounds good, looks good, but doesn’t solve the problem.
Immigration law has a long history. In ancient Israel, “strangers” (as they called them) could live and work in Israel as long as they obeyed the laws. They could convert to Judaism: King David himself was descended from Ruth, a woman of Moab. Later kings grew rather careless about this and imported foreign gods and religious practices leading eventually to the loss of both their kingdoms.
Solon the Lawgiver made immigration laws for Athens. To become an Athenian, you had to publicly renounce all ties to your mother country. If you weren’t a woman or a slave, the way was clear for you to become a full-fledged citizen. His policies were generally successful.
Roman legions guarded Rome’s borders along the Rhine and Danube rivers; but over the years, Rome extended citizenship rights to many people throughout the Empire. St. Paul himself, and other apostles, was a Roman citizen with full legal rights—up to a point. That point was passed by many early Christians, who died for it.
As long as Rome could enforce her borders, she prospered. But when those borders failed, the western half of the Empire collapsed, overrun by Huns, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Alans, etc., etc. The eastern half, by dint of military force and dodgy diplomacy, hung on for another thousand years.
Where is it written that national borders are only there for laughs? That anyone who feels like it can just waltz into your country and get free stuff? And that, once there, they can agitate, protest, and make demands to their hearts’ content—and let the host country bear the consequences?
It can be stated simply: a country without borders is not a country. Furthermore, a country with a plethora of cultures within its borders can only survive if either all those competing grounds are kept in line by their fear of the state’s overwhelming force—Roman legions, for instance—or, much less common, a shared commitment to the peace and order of the host country—which was Solon’s model… and, until recently, our own.
“Yeahbut, yeahbut! Without borders, we can have a world government! It’ll be ever so much nicer!” [Readers may provide their own rude noises. I’m going with a long, loud raspberry.]
Are America and Europe prepared to keep their states in being by applying overwhelming force? Ms. Meloni doesn’t think it’s possible to get radical Islamists to make a commitment to Italy as it is: they don’t want it as it is. How can it possibly be argued that she’s wrong?
Wishful thinking and pious lip-service to “diversity” will not serve us any better than it did the Western Roman Empire.
I have discussed these and other topics throughout the week on my blog, http://www.leeduigon.com/ . Click the link and drop in for a visit. My articles can also be found at www.chalcedon.edu/ .
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E-Mail Lee Duigon: leeduigon@verizon.net
