Hey there. It's Stephen Dubner. This is part two of a series we are calling the true story of America's

supremely messed up immigration system. If you haven't listened to part one yet, don't worry about it.

You'll be fine. You can go back later if you want. For part two, I'd like to begin with a story.

This story goes back to 2008 when we ran a contest on the Freakonomics blog.

That was long before this podcast existed. Hey, maybe we should start having contests on the podcast.

Anyway, the goal of this contest was to choose

a new motto for the United States. There was the old motto E. Pluribus Unum from the many one, which I'd always liked, but no one seemed to use it anymore.

Congress had replaced it in 1956 within God we trust, but that didn't really catch on either, except on our currency where it is required.

There were some other unofficial mottos, land of the free home of the brave, things like that,

but I thought we could do better.

At the time, I was captivated by this recent trend in six-word stories.

This was a thing among writers especially.

The most famous six-word story was attributed to Ernest Hemingway, although it's

uncertain if he actually wrote it. It goes like this. For sale, baby shoes, never worn. So we asked for economics readers to propose a new six-word motto for the United States,

and then we would all vote on a winner.

There were more than a thousand submissions. We narrowed them down to five finalists.

Here are the four finalists that didn't win. Remember, six words.

Caution, Experiment in progress since 1776 the most gentle empire so far you should

see the other guy and just like Canada with better bacon.

And here's the motto that was voted winner by a mile.

Our worst critics prefer to stay.

That was more than 15 years ago,

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