With open borders, there can be no welfare

January 27, 2026

OPINION by GARY KIRKLAND

History has demonstrated that many countries have had problems with immigration. I am briefly describing one example.

In about 376 Common Era, when The Roman Empire was divided into the Western and Eastern Empires, Goths (Germans) were trying to cross the river on the northern border of the Roman Empire. Huns were chasing and slaughtering the Goths.

They wanted Roman protection.

Valens, the Roman Emperor, didn’t want to let the Goths in, but he finally made a bargain with the leader of the Goths.

The deal was in return for admission into the empire, the Goths would provide soldiers for the Roman army, which was fighting a war in the East of the Empire. The Romans would provide welfare to the Goths.

After about 40 years, the Goths wanted to keep their own culture and stopped providing soldiers. The Romans cut off welfare. The Visigoths, one the Goth tribes, sacked Rome in 410 Common Era. This act effectively destroyed the Western Roman Empire.

Quoting Milton Friedman in 1776: “A country can have open borders with no welfare. A country can have closed borders with welfare. If a country has open borders and welfare the country will disappear.”

This history is a good lesson for our time. I got this information from “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” written by Edward Gibbon in 1776.

Gary Kirkland is an Atascadero resident, 35-year-old stockholder in the Atascadero Mutual Water Company and president of the San Luis Obispo County Libertarian Party.