Borders?

Africa's borders were drawn up in London and Paris. I don't think that worked out all that well. When pressed why border lovers are against free flow of people - the argument presented to me is normally around crime, the welfare state or politics.

Crime
Criminals exist everywhere. Society learns to punish/exclude those who transgress and let everyone else get on with it. Wouldn't the economic and social benefits of a world with no borders outweigh the cost?

Welfare
I am not sure why those in favour of a welfare state should not be in favour of supporting all the poor in the world? We can't, so charity should start at home. Hmm, Ok. The welfare state extends beyond a very basic safety net though. I would be interested to see how the total cost of universal benefits (i.e. ones even people who could pay themselves get) in the worlds rich countries would be compare to a basic subsistence safety net for everyone in the world. Yes, I realise it gets political and some people even consider internet access and a chunky pension from the age of 50 a basic human right.

Politics
Wouldn't it be great if over time Government became something like what was dreamed of in the American experiment in democracy. As the use force falls away and a legal framework gets agreed upon, Government should surely over time become more administrative. Voting would be less about ideology and more about who has been effective. Once a mature democracy has a evolved constitution and a legal system to enforce it - perhaps restricting the vote to those who have lived somewhere for 5 years would be fine. Constitutional changes could require a vote from those who have been there even longer. I think the real problem links to the Welfare State issue. Politics is unfortunately not about efficient administration. It is more about who controls the purse strings.

I think with increased travel, trade, multi-national companies, the internet etc. borders as a restriction on the flow of people becomes more and more crazy. Getting to live somewhere because you won or lost the biological lottery makes very little sense to me. You should be able to live and work wherever in the world you wish as long as you obey the laws. The world would be better off.