If the government would only snuff out the sun or block its effects, he wrote, just think of all the jobs that could be saved, and all the new jobs that could be created in this industry.

He sought to make the case for candle makers and related workers, saying that they were facing unfair competition from the sun. It was a fiendishly satirical look at the folly of governments propping up failing or inefficient industries.

The 1845 piece was a brilliant demolition job of the illogic of protectionism.

Over a century and a half ago the great French political economist Frederic Bastiat penned a terrific little essay entitled “The Petition of the Candlemakers”.