Some non-native elements, such as horses and soybeans, blend in seamlessly. Others, such as Asian carp, zebra mussels, and nutria, can cause severe problems. This is not because they're bad by nature, but because they're incompatible with the system. Of course, a new equilibrium can eventually be established -- you just have to wait for certain native species to be killed off.
I've been thinking along those lines for years, for immigration and ecological stuff as well. It's a brilliant analysis of the problem in both venues.
Unfortunately, it doesn't offer much of a solution.
The solution lies in acknowledging that horses and soybeans blend in to the ecosystem because they both add value and do not try to overwhelm it.
Zebra mussels and Asian carp--and in my area, knapweed--perform no beneficial function and do their best to overwhelm and displace everything else.
Acknowledge that knapweed is bad, soybeans are good, and act accordingly!
Our policy should not permit immigration that might be harmful to it, add no value, or increase costs. It shouldn't allow someone to come in simply because he wants to and certainly not if his motive, as defined by his previous behavior, is or might be destructive.
This reticence about profiling is absurd. Profile away! Keep destructive elements OUT! If Osama bin Laden or anybody like him tries to go through legal channels, that does not make him any more desirable in our culture.
They are incompatible with the system. |
