from the bigdumbHoosier Archive - 04.20.2001
Stuff vs. you
The trouble with free trade is that it's like the proverbial free lunch. It's not free.
Free trade, as it's being promoted these days, entails a loss of territorial governmental control. If you live in a democracy, or something sort of similar to one, that means that your vote is losing value. Commercial interests (corporations, if you will) become vested with rights to veto local, regional or national governmental decisions. That means your vote loses value.
Perhaps, with free trade, you can buy the sneakers you want for less currency. But what if it costs you your chance to have a voice in the control of your life? Once it's gone, how are you going to get it back? Will you be able to afford those cheap sneakers when you've been downsized?
I'm not entirely comfortable making an argument for local control. Local governments hardly have an unblemished record: local control can be an excuse to do ignorant, bigoted, narrow-minded things. It can serve somebody's greed the same as any other kind of control. But your chances of having a meaningful voice at your local town hall are a whole lot better than that you'll be able influence what they're doing in some city five thousand miles and a culture away.
Nations do not exist simply to do war upon one another. Nations exist to create a framework for a legal/economic/moral system that reflects the values of the nation's citizens. America has always been a democracy for governance by the majority with a legal and moral system that creates countervailing individual rights. Sure, its behavior often falls short of these ideals, but the ideals remain.
Corporations exist to make money for their officers and shareholders. There's no place in this simple creed for rights of the majority, and the minority be damned. Government must continue to do these functions, and that means taking responsibility for things like economic development, environmental issues, fair wages and work standards, and human health and welfare.
I like cheap shoes as much as anybody else, but sometimes cheap is too expensive. I'm not arguing for protectionism as a general rule, but there's a time and a place for it. I'd like to see the standard of living in Bolivia improve to what it is in Wisconsin, but I wouldn't like to see the converse. Let's keep the Off Button handy.
