"Frederic Bastiat once wrote a satirical petition...."

"Frederic Bastiat once wrote a satirical petition to the French parliament on behalf of candle makers and related industries.  He was seeking relief from "ruinous competition of a foreign rival who works under conditions so far superior to our own for the production of light that he is flooding the domestic market with it at an incredibly low price."  The "foreign rival" he was speaking of was the sun, which was unfairly giving away light for free.  The relief sought was a law requiring the closing of all blinds to shut out the sunlight and thereby stimulate the domestic candle industry.  That is what so many fallacious arguments against free trade amount to." -Page 95 of The Revolution, A Manifesto