The Science of Free Trade

Democrats had a grand time in 2004 congratulating themselves as being the party of science (i.e.,
pro embryonic stem cell research) while the Republicans were the party of superstition that would
shut of hope for Alzheimers sufferers.

Of course when it comes to economics, the shoe is on the other foot, as
Thomas Sowell
reminds us. Ever since the early economists came up with the law of comparative advantage, the
advocates of economic privilege and clientage (which today means Democrats) have struggled against it.
The law of comparative advantage says that it is always mutually beneficial for two or more
people to engage in economic interchange untrammeled by monopoly and trade barriers, in short, that
free trade works. But those that have extracted monopoly privileges out of the government stand to lose from
a removal of trade barriers and government economic regulation. They agitate against the removal of their
privileges.

When Democrats rail against “outsourcing” they are railing against the law of comparative advantage.
They are also railing against economic growth, lifting the poor out of poverty, and they are shilling
for special interests like the sugar lobby.
So whose science are you on, Democrats?