In “Protectionism as a Path to Piety” (May 2019 issue), John Howting appears to assert that protective tariffs are acts of piety.

Where is the justice in the politically powerful forcing, ultimately under the penalty of death, the politically weak to subsidize them—which is what a protective tariff does? Protective tariffs require politicians to pick winners and losers. When have politicians excelled at this job? They will always side with the politically powerful. 

How is forcing someone, the weak, to support another, the strong—which is what a protective tariff does—piety? Furthermore, isn’t forcing someone to pay more for products protected by tariffs somewhat impious?

How does a protective tariff honor one’s ancestors from 200, 400, or 800 years ago?  How do children honor their deceased parents by paying tribute to the politically powerful?

If protective tariffs promote piety, would not outlawing grocery stores, butcher shops, farmers’ markets, and the like promote piety even more? Would not requiring every family to raise its own food be the ultimate in piety, as Mr. Howting describes it?

Would not the piety that Mr. Howting describes be best achieved when people are convinced to buy locally produced products, even if they cost more and are of poorer quality than imports from other countries or even other states?

        —Thomas Allen
Franklinton, N.C.

Mr. Howting Replies:

I enjoyed Mr. Allen’s questions very much. I should clarify: My point was that Bastiat’s analogy is inept. Blocking out the sun is not akin to placing a tariff on foreign goods. My intention is not to defend all tariffs. That said, I posit that tariffs could cause people to buy closer to home, which would be pious.

If the government picks winners and losers at the behest of the politically powerful, then doesn’t this apply to all types of laws? There is a winner and a loser with every law. For example, a law against murder, creates a clear loser in murderers. And to Mr. Allen’s point, convicted murders have less political power, as they can’t vote—although this may change soon under a President Kamala Harris or Bernie Sanders, God help us! If the state will inevitably pick winners and losers, and the state isn’t going to disappear, then I think we had better watch our politicians and ensure they pick Americans as the winners.

How does a tariff today honor our ancestors? Generally, it doesn’t. One can show piety to one’s ancestors, but not all pious actions do. How does attending the Mass or wearing a scapular honor my Calvinist ancestors from 200 years ago? It doesn’t.  But I still consider these actions pious. They honor God and His Church.

On the question of buying locally, I absolutely believe buying from a family-owned neighborhood store is more pious than buying from a super market chain.  As for outlawing food vendors to encourage more localized exchange, I would say growing one’s own food and staying close to one’s family would indeed by pious. However, prudence is also a virtue. Not all men are called to the land. And no subsistence-agrarian economy ever arose overnight as the result of one new law.