… is from chapter 3 of William Graham Sumner’s great 1885 book, Protectionism: the -ism Which Teaches that Waste Makes Wealth:
Thus, under the philosophy of protectionism, the very same thing, if it comes to us freely by the extension of commerce and the march of improvement, is regarded with terror, while, if we can first bar it out, and then only let a little of it in at great cost and pains, it is a thing worth fighting for.
DBx: I simply don’t believe life-long protectionists such as Donald Trump and Chuck Schumer (or their lackeys and apologists) who insist that their ultimate goal is free trade. They complain about American workers having to compete against low-wage foreign workers – about how trade has ‘destroyed’ jobs in ‘traditional’ industries – about U.S. trade ‘deficits’ both with the rest of the world and with individual countries – and yet they also want us to believe that they would welcome freer trade if only other governments would eliminate tariff barriers against American exports. Do the likes of Trump, MAGAists, and Schumer not see that most of what they stupidly complain about regarding the current regime of global trade would only be greater under truly freer global trade?
I despise having my intelligence insulted. You, too, should despise having your intelligence insulted. And protectionism is one monstrous insult to intelligence.
