Purely IMO, I think the consideration isn't when only a few are affected negatively within a society. Those people are already ignored due to the tyranny of the majority, and the consolidation aspects which occur as a natural outgrowth of free trade.
The issue is when large social groups, or even entire nation states are affected (in their perception) negatively by free trade. With America, this is a drastic problem, as after the period of the 50's to 80's, perceptually, there is little room to go, except down. Compared to other nations, our relative delta was larger than anywhere else, and compared favourably to the deltas of the British Empire, Rome, ect...
This is exacerbated by the fact that America is a nation populated by people with a strong streak of individualism, to the point where even national identity can be difficult. When folks are in Texas (example only for oil) and actively resist trade benefits for folks in say, North Dakota, then talking about the benefits of free trade for society as a whole is a non-starter. Head, meet wall.
I agree that policy should not be purely economic, and I wish policy in general verged far more towards the social side of the spectrum. Unfortunately, our values in America are quite often, "screw that guy, I want mine."
The issue is when large social groups, or even entire nation states are affected (in their perception) negatively by free trade. With America, this is a drastic problem, as after the period of the 50's to 80's, perceptually, there is little room to go, except down. Compared to other nations, our relative delta was larger than anywhere else, and compared favourably to the deltas of the British Empire, Rome, ect...
This is exacerbated by the fact that America is a nation populated by people with a strong streak of individualism, to the point where even national identity can be difficult. When folks are in Texas (example only for oil) and actively resist trade benefits for folks in say, North Dakota, then talking about the benefits of free trade for society as a whole is a non-starter. Head, meet wall.
I agree that policy should not be purely economic, and I wish policy in general verged far more towards the social side of the spectrum. Unfortunately, our values in America are quite often, "screw that guy, I want mine."