I agree with everything you wrote and your quote from the article as well. Questioning the low tariff regime that we’ve put in place since the 1950’s doesn’t mean that a person supports government regulations or anti-competitive measures beyond straight tariffs. I think that the theory of “free trade” has not been borne out with actual experience. We’ve lost ground relative to our economic competitors, not gained it, since we dropped our tariffs. So did Great Britain.
I think the “disconnect” between theory and reality is that economic theory looks at GDP, GNP, income, utility, all those absolute measures and ignores RELATIVE power. If you have 2 actors (A & B) who are geopolitical competitors and free trade makes everyone richer, but helps B twice as much as A, then if you care about relative power and live in A you would rationally be opposed to completely free trade. You would care if you didn’t trust that B, once they were more powerful than A, would continue to be fair and free. Say using the USA and China for example, once China is stronger militarily than we are, will we truly be better off?
Happy FReeper Anniversary, btw. :)