Lots (L–O–T–S) of e-mail on free trade, pro & con. I am sorry to say I
have reached the MEGO point on this topic, & I guess Peter, Ramesh and Jonah
are getting the same e-mails I’m getting, so I’ll just post a sample.
“Jonah asks: ‘By what right does the government in Washington tell me where
and from whom I can buy my rubber shower shoes or stereo equipment? … Why
does… the government [have] the right to forbid me to do what I want?’
Well, that would be because it’s in the Constitution, that’s why. Pat
Buchanan: ‘If this right [to free trade] is “God-given,” the Founding
Fathers trampled all over it. The Constitution declares that Congress
“shall have Power” to lay “Duties” and “Imposts” and “regulate Commerce with
foreign nations.”‘ If Jonah and other free traders want to remove that
power from the US government, then they need to agitate for a consitutional
convention for that purpose — but it’s nonsense to maintain that the US
government doesn’t have the ‘right’ to interfere with Jonah’s purchase of
cheap Chinese-made crap at Wal-Mart.”