Pragmatism's Principles

Here's a letter that I sent recently to an e-mail correspondent:

12 May 2010

Dear _____:

After introducing yourself as an admirer of Milton Friedman, you accuse me of suffering from "ideology created blindness" because of my "inability to see" that, if we moved to open borders, America's welfare state would attract "unlimited numbers" of "desperately poor migrants who would bankrupt tax payers."

You insist: "Pragmatism, Dr. Boudreaux, is what we need.  Not blind living in your fairy tale...