In the end, there is no foolproof method to guarantee that political leaders leave without tears.

In the course of a couple of encounters, I heard him explain in front of large public audiences how the people of Manchuria had tears in their eyes when the occupying Kwantung Army left China, so grateful were they to Japan.

This means, of course, that if protectionism is politically convenient, you need not shed tears over harming the country by surrendering to it, an attitude that many Democrats in the United States find convenient to adopt.

In the end, there is no foolproof method to guarantee that political leaders leave without tears. What matters is that mechanisms are in place that do make them leave, probably rather too late, and certainly with some pain and unhappiness, but in time for the constitution of liberty to remain intact.