Samuel Gregg recently gave a lecture at West Virginia University. Gregg is an engaging speaker and a good antidote to the shift of the Christian right to Christian nationalism or Catholic integralism. However, we should be skeptical of some of what he argues with respect to free trade. Gregg argues that the Constitution is a free-trade agreement between the states, which in part allowed the subsequent uptick in growth in the US. While this is partially true, the Constitution is a double-edged sword.On the one hand, trade restrictions between the states were eliminated, but on the other hand, the power to impose trade restrictions was transferred to the new central government. One could conceive of a scenario where a state had relatively low tariffs, but in the aftermath of the
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