On the existence of giraffid artiodactyl mammals

“On the Question of Free Trade” is a transcript of a relatively short debate on the benefits or otherwise of free trade, featuring James Miller and Vox Day. Miller, educated at the University of Chicago, defends the free trade position. Vox, a controversial alt-right blogger, attacks it.

Miller is good at summarizing the free trade position, but this inadvertently serves to expose its almost surrealistic quality. You probably know the drift already: The Invisible Hand really does work, the poor in Bangladesh are better off since they have cheap cell phones, free trade caused the enormous economic growth of the modern period (sic), multi-national corporate boards are better than politicians since the former wants to sell us good stuff at reasonable prices and therefore help our communities, und so weiter. The dogmatic naivety of this man is truly breathtaking. Sometimes, Miller strays from a strict neo-liberal or libertarian perspective. He is opposed to the free movement of labor (i.e. to open borders and mass immigration) and also calls for environmental regulation.

The combination of free trade and closed borders is typical of an earlier phase of globalism, when imperial nation-states use "free" trade to dominate their weaker competitors. Today, a new phase has arrived, in which the global elites are trying to eliminate both the old fashioned empires and the smaller nation-states, turning the whole world into one gigantic economic free zone. This presumably explains why the free traders have shifted to an extreme pro-immigration position. Miller is still stuck on the old imperialist stage, but logically nothing stops him from switching to the current globalist concensus. At one point, he really lets the cat out of the bag by declaring: “I admit I don’t care that much about national sovereignty. (…) If trade restricts the freedom of American politicians to do what they otherwise wanted to do, I think that is a benefit of trade. What I care more about is the sovereignty of individuals and consumers.” Overall, however, Miller is still stuck on the old imperialist stage, as when he advocates political pressure on nations which refuses to open their markets for free trade. Presumably, Miller thinks that Commodore Perry defended Japanese consumer rights...

Vox Day doesn't summarize his position just as well, but he does seem to have a coherent alternative to neo-liberalism. It can be described as protectionist, nationalist/anti-globalist but also racialist, due to Vox' worries about Third World immigration destroying Western nations and even lowering their IQ. Pat Buchanan? Vox strongly emphasizes that free trade might be a logical model in theory, but the real world simply doesn't work that way. Skepticism to science and “progress” are other ingredients of his outlook. Both Miller and Vox agree that their disagreements are ultimately based on values. Says Vox: “Because civilization depends upon nations and national sovereignty, free trade is intrinsically opposed to civilization itself.” As already stated, Miller is willing to jettison the nation-state if it will make “us” prosper economically speaking, while Vox seems willing to accept a lower standard of living if it helps preserve kith and kin.

At one point, the debate becomes slightly bizarre. Vox Day is a science fiction writer, while Miller is a believer in the Singularity, the idea that Artificial Intelligence might become so powerful that it can take over the world and dispense with humans. This leads both gentlemen into a stunning exchange about the sexual appetites of robots, the number of molecules in the universe and the future fate of the fair okapi. The least absurd statement in this section (and that says a lot) is when Miller opines: “Unfortunately, there is a good chance that we will most likely have a Singularity where we create machines that will decide to kill us and use our atoms to create something else.” Okapis, perhaps?

James Miller might be a nice guy, but I admit that he comes across as a typical libertarian “nerd”, including the Space Cadet aspect! And no, I don't like such people. And although I probably like right-wing extremists like Vox Day even less, I must say that the “Voice of God” scores many points in this debate, despite its short and introductory nature. I therefore give it three stars.