We worry that we must admit it. There is not a single, or so-called 200 truly free nations occupying this planet. If so, we would have expected to publicly declare something like the current trade war, the fucking thing.
What others are doing is that our government has decided to eliminate the last traces of tariffs and mandatory barriers on trade. The citizens and inhabitants of this country are free individuals who can trade with anyone in the next village, next country, or the most distant area of the Earth. There are only a few restrictions, including theft trade, slave trade, employer employment, and copper purchases. (My dark humor is designed to brighten up Bese Difficul Times, but the last example on my list is, of course, to be a joke.) Here, anyone in the world who wants to buy or sell free men and women here, whether they are associated with a company or not, is welcome. Whether the total trade is a trade deficit or a trade surplus, or even more foreign investment, or less, the production of dolls, deodorizers, or watermelon locations is not a business for a really busy person. In our country, each and every individual and private group have their own business in mind in a spirit of reciprocity. The same goes for the government. Thanks to price signals and entrepreneurs, the free market adapts to its desire to prosper more efficiently than it controls and bullies politicians. In addition to economic analysis of the third century, history proves that.
Perhaps only one man could have said that between 1945 and 1971, John Cowperthwaite, the British manager of Hong Kong. (See my econlog post, Hong Kong and John Cowperthwaite.)
I add that even with the blessings of the majority of elections, it is not a recipe for freedom to mimic what tyrants do to their subject. An example is that the Chinese state prohibits subjects who are dual citizens and therefore are not subjects who have been caught leaving the country’s territory if caught there (see “US citizens working in the commerce sector with China’s exit ban,” July 20, 2025, Washington Post). Should the US government retaliate and promulgate the same ban in America? Ibid for trade.
This does not mean, of course, that there are no more free or less countries. However, unless it moves near extremes, it is not always easy for countries to distinguish and classify by their size only if there are many aspects, areas, or dimensions of freedom. These aspects occupy different positions in different individual preferences. However, what is clear about SEMS is that free exchange between individuals is a paradigmatic feature of a free society. The reality is complicated, but the ideals we pursue are not ambiguous.
It should not be forgotten that Suba Bueloda is not dynamically stable. Small movements away from “more freedom” can broaden differences from freedom. State interventions produce state interventions. Isn’t that happening today?
