Palen’s book puts Cobden in context by comparison to Friedrich List, who, inspired by a stint in America in the 1820s, starts from the premise that for a nation to be great, it needs an empire of colonies to exploit, and to conquer and defend colonies, it needs a developed domestic industry and navy; and for a nation to develop its own industry, it needs protectionism. And yet, I think we do need a healthy dose of internationalism to remedy the ills of the present day: a jolt of ideals and even idealism to remind us that we are all travelling together on this spaceship Earth, and that those on the other side of a political line are just as much our brothers and sisters those on “our” side. And yet, the way the CAP is structured allocates most of the money in proportion to the surface area of a farm, which is to say, to the largest agribusinesses and to the largest landowners.
Published at: 2026-02-18 22:25:02
Still want to read the full version? Full article
