Peace and Free Trade
8 November 2006
Editor, Slate
Dear Editor:
Re "The Lou Dobbs Democrats" (Nov. 8):
Many newly elected Democrats oppose both war and free trade. They should avoid this inconsistency.
Research - especially by Solomon Polachek - finds that trade promotes peace. Commerce unites people economically (it's bad for the bottom line to kill your customers) and culturally (trade with foreigners demands that you better understand them and that they better understand you).
To the extent that Senator-elect Sherrod Brown and other "Lou Dobbs Democrats" manage to isolate Americans from foreign commerce they will not only make us poorer, they also will increase our chances in the future of waging senseless and gruesome wars.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, Slate
Dear Editor:
Re "The Lou Dobbs Democrats" (Nov. 8):
Many newly elected Democrats oppose both war and free trade. They should avoid this inconsistency.
Research - especially by Solomon Polachek - finds that trade promotes peace. Commerce unites people economically (it's bad for the bottom line to kill your customers) and culturally (trade with foreigners demands that you better understand them and that they better understand you).
To the extent that Senator-elect Sherrod Brown and other "Lou Dobbs Democrats" manage to isolate Americans from foreign commerce they will not only make us poorer, they also will increase our chances in the future of waging senseless and gruesome wars.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Friday June 22, 2007 at 11:47am