Opening page…
Born on the other side
What gives you a stronger claim to a safe, prosperous country than someone born just across its border?
Citizenship distributes enormous advantages by birth. Ask which obligations membership creates, and which exclusions it can justify.
Your answer
A little context
At passport control you join the short queue and walk through in a minute, while the long queue beside you barely moves. You did nothing to earn the colour of your passport; you were born somewhere. So was everyone in the other line.
Nearby questions
- Are people basically good?Mencius said anyone who saw a child about to fall into a well would feel a jolt of alarm. Xunzi answered that people are born selfish and only learn to be good. Answer from what you've seen people do when nobody was making them.
- Does anyone deserve to suffer?Imagine that punishing someone guilty would deter nobody, protect nobody and change nothing. Many people still feel it should happen.
- Is it ever right to break the law?Rosa Parks broke a law and is remembered as a hero. Plenty of people who break laws believe they are right too.
- Write the rules, then be bornYou must design society before finding out whether you will be rich or poor, healthy or ill, powerful or ignored. Which rules would you refuse to leave to luck?
- Should any speech be banned?Free speech is easy to defend for words you like. Any line you draw will one day be enforced by people who disagree with you.
