… is ever ready to point with immense confidence to theoretical curiosa to justify a real-world policy of punitively taxing fellow citizens who purchase goods and services from foreigners, yet has no good answer when asked why he doesn’t apply those same theoretical curiosa to justify a real-world policy of punitively taxing fellow citizens who purchase goods and services from people who live in the adjoining town, or from people whose last names start with the letter “F,” or from people who have blue eyes, or from women, or from people born more than (or less than) 35 years ago, or from [fill in the blank with any subset of human beings you wish].
The protectionist, and his audience, doesn’t realize that every economic feature that such theoretical curiosa identify as a potential justification for protective tariffs on goods and services offered for sale by foreigners works no less – and no more – well as a potential justification for protective tariffs on goods and services offered for sale by people who live in the adjoining town, or by people whose last names start with the letter “F,” or by people who have blue eyes, or by women, or by people born more than (or less than) 35 years ago, or by [fill in the blank with any subset of human beings you wish].
