Here’s a letter to a new correspondent.
Mr. S__:
You write that you and other “average Americans have got President Trump’s back since we’ve been fed up with elites forcing free trade down our throats.”
I see. So what you’re saying is that you’re fed up with people who want to increase your freedom to spend your income as you choose. That’s interesting.
Suppose your next-door neighbor, Sam, arms himself with a loaded .45 caliber pistol and plants himself by your front door. And then each time someone delivers a package or Uber Eats meal to your home, Sam demands that you and your family pay to him – to Sam – ten percent of the purchase price. If you refuse, Sam – waving his pistol menacingly – prevents you from completing the purchase that you wish to make.
But Sam doesn’t want you to think he’s a brute. He means well. “Be grateful,” Sam informs you, “for by increasing your cost of home delivery, I make you more likely to shop in person at the local mall and to dine out at local restaurants. I’m helping our town’s economy! You should thank me!”
Several days later, your neighbor from across the street, after observing Sam’s actions, organizes other of your neighbors to put an end to Sam’s interference with your and your family’s freedom to spend your money as you choose.
Would you accuse these neighbors, who try to stop Sam from molesting you, of forcing free trade down your and your family’s throats? Would you label these neighbors as “elites” who should mind their own business? Or would you understand that the person who is forcing his preferences down your and your family’s throats is, in fact, Sam and not your neighbors who simply wish to stop Sam from molesting you so that you and your family are left free to spend your income in whatever peaceful ways you choose?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
