VANGUARDISM, AND TRADEOFFS. Atlantic Blog notes the difficulty of an advocate presuming to speak for all members of the class the advocate presumes to speak for, and notes the tradeoffs open trade brings. The opportunity for a seller to sell at a higher world price, absent tariff barriers implies the obligation for a buyer to buy at the higher world price, which means a loss to a buyer. The general equilibrium effect is frequently, however, the opportunity for the buyer to buy something else from somewhere else at a lower world price, suggesting a benefit to consumers from trade liberalization, but a benefit different from the one claimed here.