[Hoplite]

French peasants weren't starving due to the free trade policies of the Bourbons.

You stated that free trade was equivalent to Marxism, which is simple foolishness - and your inability to either defend your erroneous statement or admit its false nature is causing you to go on yet another fun filled exercise in avoiding the issue.

[Destro]

For democracies to work well you need a yeoman class - i.e. Hoplite or the so called middle class. That is a self sufficient class of people that work but work enough to have some free time to ponder and conduct the affairs of the state.

That should be the only economic policy of a democratic republic. Not looking out for businesses or for business efficiency models.

Since in my view a successful economical system for a democracy maintains or expands the middle class base then the last 30 years as manufacturing declined and the middle class declined America's economy has been failing.

My thesis is that for free trade to be a "boon" it requires that the middle class to grow. It in fact has shrunk.