# Close the Border!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [November 7, 2001, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931 "2001-11-07T03:01:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2001, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/21 "2001-11-07T21:16:00Z")
I’m thinking maybe we should close the borders of this message board…
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/22 "2001-11-07T23:26:01Z")
Old line from the Adirondacks:
“The chief difference between the pro-environmentalists and the pro-developers is that the pro-environment people already _have_ their second homes.”
I have ancestors dating back to the mid-1620s. They were immigrants, from England.
My mother’s grandfather emigrated to upstate New York from _la Belle Province_ when the soil wore out.
Although it might not be so bad…
Of course, we’d have to replace that statue in New York harbor – perhaps a cop with a tommy gun and a stop sign would work? We sure can’t keep that woman welcoming people to America up.
And all the guys who have been complaining about anti-American stuff all these years? We simply need to give up all this stuff about individual freedoms and rights and live like we’re _supposed_ to…
In short, the idea behind this thread disgusts me. Although it does one thing I’m surprised to find happening: an old **John-John** rant on how immigration should be _limited_ suddenly improves by comparison.
**Nodaker** , get yourself out of the city and suburbs. There’s a place in the Syracuse NY SMSA _five miles from the nearest road_. Not **paved** road, just road. Nearest jeep trail accessible to the public. Wyoming, the size of any three Eastern states in area, has fewer people living in it than Baltimore. Here, 25 miles from downtown Raleigh, there’s plenty of open land available for development. Farms are a dime a dozen in several rural areas around the country. The Federal government will **pay** you to rehabilitate abandoned buildings in small cities in several areas.
We’re not flooding the country. We’ve barely begun to make proper use of it.
And in any case, you’re too late in your call – your ancestors already got in under the wire.
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### Author:  [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2001, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/23 "2001-11-07T23:52:44Z")
Hey Polycarp, where in Syracuse exactly are you talking about?? I’m just wondering 'cause that’s where I’m from!!
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2001, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/24 "2001-11-08T00:02:22Z")
I said the legally-defined Syracuse Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, not the Salt City itself. Specifically it’s the northern part of the Town of Redfield in Oswego County, which is included with Onondaga County in the Syracuse SMSA.
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### Author:  [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/25 "2001-11-08T04:22:16Z")
Oh yeah, I wasn’t trying to imply that you meant in the actual city. I can definatly vouch for what you’re saying about Redfield.
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### Author:  [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2001, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/26 "2001-11-08T10:42:24Z")
Hey, my roommate’s from Syracuse!
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2001, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/27 "2001-11-08T11:08:45Z")
But what good would just closing the borders around Syracuse do?
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/28 "2001-11-08T22:35:46Z")
I have an uncle in Syracuse…
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### Author:  [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)
#### Post date: [November 8, 2001, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/29 "2001-11-08T22:57:04Z")
I’ve never been to Syracuse!!
Does this mean I may never get to go??
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/30 "2001-11-09T01:57:03Z")
Well, how about it, **nodaker**? Will the border to Syracuse be closed for permanently, or just for the duration?
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### Author:  [@Nestor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nestor)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/31 "2001-11-09T02:53:58Z")
They’d better not close the border to Syracuse - I need to get home for Thanksgiving.
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### Author:  [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/32 "2001-11-09T04:09:06Z")
…damn xenophobic Syracusians…
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/33 "2001-11-09T04:22:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Nestor \*
> \*\*They’d better not close the border to Syracuse - I need to get home for Thanksgiving. \*\*
Welcome to the SDMB Refugee Camp.
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### Author:  [@Amasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amasia)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/34 "2001-11-09T06:23:26Z")
I miss Syracuse right now as I’m as school in PA …but you all better stay away! I don’t want no foreigners or nothin’ there when I git back!!!
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/close-the-border/91931/35 "2001-11-09T18:49:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by nodaker \*
> \*\*I never said that the problems of China and India were caused by immigration-they were caused by neglecting the fact that their population vs. usuable land area was getting out of hand. True wilderness in America is dissapearing in America at a rapid rate and it is an issue that is being ignored. Anyways, who would want to move to China or India? \*\*
Like others have said, there’s definitely a whiff of troll here (how many real Dopers have the guts to come to Great Debates with so few, and so muddled, facts?), but I would still like to address these statements.
China and India have the toughest population-control laws in the world. Show of hands - how many Americans want the government to tell you can have only one baby? China and India have extreme population problems, but these problems were many generations in the making, and caused by a very complex web of culture, traditions, religion, circumstances, etc. The governments of these countries seem to be very aware of the danger they are in, and are taking measures to control the damage. As for your statement about people wanting to move there, you are perpetuating the “Arrogant American” stereotype pretty good, there.
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