Although I failed to post on it over even jot down the URL at the time yesterday I ran across an article at a major left-leaning site which characterized curbing free trade measures as a goal. Not as a means to an end but as an objective itself.
Am I wrong to be concerned about this?
You should certainly be worried about it, though the fact that the position is held makes sense. (As opposed to the position itself, which makes no rational sense.) You see, if one is not very smart, but is very opinionated, how does one come to policy positions? Generally, you listen to what others say, and pick the one that feels right. So with all the talk of “fair trade” and “jobs going overseas,” complete with the overwrought emotionalism such formulations engender, it’s perfectly understandable to conclude that since the emotional consequences you see are bad, then the policy that would produce those emotional consequences must also be, a priori, bad as well. Therefore, you get protectionism as a goal, because of economic ignorance, or “withdraw from Iraq now” and “we can’t beat the enemy” because of historical ignorance, or any of the three major potential candidates for President at the moment, because of a level of ignorance I cannot comprehend, combined with the cartelization of our civic life into two political entities. All it takes to understand these things is a dark, cynical view of human nature that assumes most people are idiots about something, and the majority of people are idiots about almost everything.
It’s not a fun world, but it’s amazing how often it leads to accurate predictions.
Did I mention that, yes, you should be worried?