Spread the message of embracing a smart immigration policy!

Immigration is bound to remain a flashpoint issue in election seasons until our immigration system better reflects our national interest. Proper limits on immigration are necessary. Also, ways of slowing the inflow of political asylum seekers, economic migrants and relatives will need to be credibly and consistently implemented.

In a new column "US: Don't Obsess About Population Size," Lex Rieffel points out that policies meant to increase U.S. population growth may not make sense when economic performance is based on the productivity of the labor force rather than its size. Rieffel notes that "as resource pressure is growing globally, a smaller U.S. population could actually improve the standard of living for all Americans."

"The challenges the United States faces in the 21st century are very different from the ones it faced in the 19th and 20th centuries. It's no longer about needing more people to fill this empty land.

In the past industrial era, a larger population was necessary to build a world-class economy. Now, with the accelerating introduction of robots and artificial intelligence and the internet-of-things, it may be difficult to provide decent jobs for all the young men and women entering the labor force in the coming decades.

This is not an argument for completely closing the immigration door. Rather, it's an appeal for the United States to embrace a smart immigration policy emerging from a sense of the country's optimum population size. Future generations of Americans will be the main beneficiaries of such a policy."

Columns like this that dare to break from the elite consensus are massively important. These authors - and the publications that carry them - need all the encouragement they can get.

That means we need your interaction to keep the conversation going!

Thank you for keeping smart immigration policy in the conversation!