Friday, March 25, 2011

Celebrating The Declining Influence of Luddism and Blogging

I will be blogging a little lot less over the coming days as two of my children will be having their graduation rites and I will be entertaining my mother who is a resident of Hong Kong and who also came to attend these ceremonies.

Nevertheless here is a quote from Professor Don Boudreaux on the declining influence of Luddism (bold emphasis mine)

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Luddism. In the early 19th century, many Brits worried that increasing mechanization of the textile industry posed an unfair disadvantage to flesh-and-blood workers. Many of these technology skeptics, known as "Luddites," destroyed machinery in an effort to protect flesh-and-blood workers from the competition of Technologia's workers.

Luddism, thankfully, is today embraced only by a small group of delirious romantics longing for imaginary pastoral bliss.

Hopefully, protectionism will soon go the way of Luddism, freeing us from the superstition that trade with foreigners is less enriching than is trade with fellow citizens.

As people get to realize and adapt more of what represents as a genuine workable way to prosperity via free trade, protectionism grounded on the fantasies of Luddism will hopefully fade away too.

No comments: