… is about protectionism and is from chapter 1 of William Graham Sumner’s 1885 book, Protectionism: the -ism Which Teaches that Waste Makes Wealth [bracketed comment original to Sumner]:
Obviously the doctrine includes two assumptions. The first is, that if we are left to ourselves, each to choose, under liberty, his line of industrial effort, and to use his labor and capital, under the circumstances of the country, as best he can, we shall fail of our highest prosperity. Second, that, if Congress will only tax us [properly] we can be led up to higher prosperity.
DBx: Yes. Distrusting free markets, all protectionists – left, center, and right – put their faith in politicians and government officials who possess the authority to suppress and override the voluntary choices of individuals spending and investing their own money, time, and effort.
