Pat's analysis is very good. he missed a major point and that is the EU and ISO. Free trade is a myth that libertarians believe in and never has it been practiced on this earth, therefore it is in the realms of myth and fairy tales. The animis he speaks of I was subject to for thirty five years or more. These restrictions and regulations from the Govt. may be un-intended consequences, but if you had been there like me you would not think so. Free trade like free sex is part of the NWO, and libertarians are usefull idiots. If we were really in favor free trade we woluld make laws to help small business and regulating all large, multi-nationals, wall street. and the banksters. Consumerism and Capitalism and Greed is what this about and it is a sin.

On the contrary, Pat's analysis is shoddy. The notion the State regulates the marketplace to protect small businesses and consumers is what falls in realm of "myths and fairy tales." The recently enacted Billionaire Bankster Bailout should have made that abundantly clear.

It is anti-free traders like Buchanan who are useful idiots. Corporatists (once known as fascists or, earlier, mercantilists) hate laissez-faire capitalism, as they fear competition and innovation from small businesses and entrepreneurs. Corporatists enlist the coercive State (but I repeat myself) to protect their interests in the regulated marketplace, thereby ensuring they alone can commit the sins of "consumerism" and "greed." (Forgive the scare quotes, but these buzzwords are meaningless in economic analysis.)

America became rich because her culture once exalted property rights and entrepreneurial activity. Free--i.e., not managed--trade among the states made America richer by enhancing the division of labor across a large geographic area. Opposition to free trade (again, not managed trade, as prescribed by NAFTA, GATT, ISO and EU) between nations makes as much economic sense as opposition to trade between states or provinces within a nation, between towns within a state or province, or even between neighbors living in the same town.

Taking Buchanan's precepts to their logical extreme, we would all live as subsistence farmers, tilling the soil surrounding our lean-tos in the woods, refraining from any exchange of goods or services outside our own families. At least then, presumably, we'd enjoy full employment. At least then consumerism and greed would no longer imperil our immortal souls.