“Over the past decade, Republican support for immigration and free trade has been collapsing.”
There is a point of DIMINISHING RETURNS on both.
Without immigration, we’d still be living in wigwams here, and for many (if not most) conservative men that want a traditional marriage, we would not have wives. But even so, flooding the country with THIRD WORLD types that will simply vote DEMOCRAT every chance they get, to the point that we becomes a ONE PARTY STATE strikes conservative voters as both DUMB and DANGEROUS.
Regarding free trade - this conservative was all for it at the beginning, as it was the best way to break the backs of the unions - and it did so quite well, thankfully. But when you see the air pollution over virtually all of Eastern China and over other countries, you realize that was our manufacturing base that has now relocated over there - that was the result.
Now it’s time to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
That is plain stupid. Get a real argumant.
Sorry BobL I did finished your post and I liked the rest.
I have always been a free trader. But at some point, you have to compare the theory to the reality-—is it working?
The clear answer for Americans is no. So, the next question is, “is the theory wrong or is it not being applied correctly?”
I think the latter. Free trade demands that if you have a product and I have a product we both get to put our product on the shelf and let the buyer choose. That is absolutely NOT happening in the world today, due to protectionist policies in other countries. Many American products simply can’t be sold. In the case of drugs, ALL foreign countries regulate the price of American drugs, so the drug companies have to gouge American consumers to make up the difference (hence, the $80k a year MS drugs that are a tiny fraction of that in Europe).
To get to true free trade, you must impose restrictions that level the playing field. It sounds weird, but so do “tax cuts for the rich,” which nevertheless have the effect of increasing taxes PAID by the rich because they invest and build more. At any rate, time to temporarily ditch the theory until we figure out if the theory is wrong or the application is wrong.