Free Trade As an Extremist Ideology: The Case of NAFTA

This article purports that free tradism has become such a classic extremist ideology, just as, until recently, Marxism-Leninism was. Free tradism is fairly described as fitting the two criteria that characterize extremist ideologies: (1) their adherents are oblivious to cognitive dissonance contradicting their analyses, and (2) their adherents are willing to plunge themselves and others into great risks in the name of the ideology. This article adduces evidence in these two categories, using NAFTA as an example, analyzing concrete issues of trade theory, jobs, the environment, human rights, and democracy.