Commentary You’ve probably never heard of something as innocent-sounding as the century-old protectionist law called the Jones Act. It was passed as a national security measure in 1920 and prohibits foreign ships from transporting goods and services in American waters. The world’s a lot different place today than it was 100 years ago, and the law makes no sense today—from an economic or security standpoint. Last year, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Tom McClintock of California introduced legislation called the Open America’s Water Act, which would repeal the Jones Act and allow qualified vessels—from say Britain or Canada—to engage in domestic trade between U.S. ports. Lee puts it like this, “It is long past time to repeal the Jones Act entirely so that Alaskans, Hawaiians, and Puerto Ricans aren’t forced to pay higher prices for imported goods—and so they rapidly receive the help they need in the wake …