A BLEEDING-HEART LIBERTARIAN IN AMERICA'S DAIRYLAND
Sign in Subscribe
By John Adams in These Days Before the Vote —

These Days Before the Vote: “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world."

These Days Before the Vote: “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world."

Whitewater, Wis. — Today’s entry this Tuesday evening continues These Days Before the Vote, a series addressing each day before the November election a principle or position on which the liberal democratic tradition rests.

Consider the Declaration’s charge against the British monarch “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.” From the Declaration onward, there has been a soundly established economic basis for free trade, with a consensus in its favor for generations: Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations bk. IV, ch. II (1776) and Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation ch. VII (1817).

Trump is worse than George III, who restricted trade knowing the harm it would do to the colonies. Trump instead acts ignorantly, believing against all evidence that less exchange at higher prices will somehow bring more prosperity and lower prices.

The economy of the most extraordinary commercial republic in history now rests under the bloated thumb of a second-generation real estate man.

We have made an adversary of a friendly nation to the north, become an unreliable friend to erstwhile allies beyond, and revealed ourselves to be feckless and vulnerable to the tyrannies of the world.

Previous

These Days Before the Vote: "I shall not array myself as the political partisan of any man. In defending the great cause of human rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties."

You might also like...

These Days Before the Vote: "I shall not array myself as the political partisan of any man. In defending the great cause of human rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties."
These Days Before the Vote

These Days Before the Vote: "I shall not array myself as the political partisan of any man. In defending the great cause of human rights, I wish to derive the assistance of all religions and of all parties."

Chicago, Ill. — Today’s entry this Monday afternoon continues These Days Before the Vote, a series addressing each day before the November election a principle or position on which the liberal democratic tradition rests. In the inaugural issue of William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator, Garrison wrote that “I shall not array myself as
Read More
John Adams
These Days Before the Vote: “He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.”
These Days Before the Vote

These Days Before the Vote: “He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.”

Whitewater, Wis. — Today’s entry this Sunday morning continues These Days Before the Vote, a series addressing each day before the November election a principle or position on which the liberal democratic tradition rests. Consider the Declaration’s charge against the British monarch that “He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent
Read More
John Adams
These Days Before the Vote: “Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”
These Days Before the Vote

These Days Before the Vote: “Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”

Whitewater, Wis. — Today’s entry continues These Days Before the Vote, a series addressing each day before the November election a principle or position on which the liberal democratic tradition rests. Consider the Declaration’s charge against the British monarch that “He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless
Read More
John Adams