In 1845, the French free market economist Frederic Bastiat published his now famous satire “The Candlemakers’ Petition.” Inspired by French parliamentary debates about tariffs to be placed on foreign goods that enjoyed lower cost production elsewhere, Bastiat crafted his petition in an effort to demonstrate the absurdity of using tariffs, which always support special interest groups, as a way to benefit a nation’s entire people.

“We are suffering from the intolerable competition of a foreign rival, placed, it would seem, in a condition so far superior to ours for the production of light that he absolutely inundates our national market with it at a price fabulously reduced,” the candlemakers begin. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? But as one might guess, the beleaguered candlemakers aren’t talking about foreign-produced candles, they are referring to sunlight.