How can you disagree with this:
FREE TRADE IS NOT FREE
Patrick J. Buchanan
Address to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations
November 18, 1998
. . . I am called by many names. “Protectionist” is one of the nicer ones; but it is inexact. I am an economic nationalist. To me, the country comes before the economy; and the economy exists for the people. I believe in free markets, but I do not worship them. In the proper hierarchy of things, it is the market that must be harnessed to work for man - and not the other way around.
As for the Global Economy, like the unicorn, it is a mythical beast that exists only in the imagination. In the real world, there are only national economies — Japan’s that has lost its animal spirits, South Korea’s that is deep in recession, China’s which is headed for trouble, Brazil’s which is falling, Indonesia and Russia’s which are in collapse.
In these unique national economies, critical decisions are based on what is best for the nation. Only in America do leaders sacrifice the interests of their own country on the altar of that golden calf, the Global Economy.
Those words could be lifted right out of a socialist manual. By "country" what does he mean? Well, the federal government, of course. Who decides what's good for "the people"? Why the federal government, of course. Who's going to do the "harnessing" to "work for man"? Why the federal government, of course.
Why did the Founders in the Constitution exclude the federal government from meddling with our economic affairs except when it came to intrastate or foreign issues? Because they knew something that Pat and many "conservatives" seem to have forgotten: that the government is a necessary evil and exists only to protect, not manage, our freedom and economic affairs.
History teaches us that the greatest accumulation of wealth and prosperity BY THE AVERAGE PERSON in the United States was during the 1800's when the size of the federal government was about 4%-8% of of GDP and had very little to do with our everyday lives or the economy.
Pat and many "conservatives" don't seem to understand the basic tenants of freedom and the corollary free market economy. Society does best when the individuals in it, not some distant bureaucrat in Washington, decide for themselves what is in their best interests. The free market economy is exactly that: FREE and VOLUNTARY. Nobody forces anyone to do anything. Individuals voluntarily cooperate with each other for their own benefit. The byproduct of that is wealth creation. This is the story of America in the 1800's.
Freedom is the absence of government. The more government, the less freedom. In the free market, individuals accomplish their goals voluntarily. The government accomplishes its goals through coercive force. The free market creates wealth. Government creates poverty. These are truths as well as historical facts.
Americans need to fall in love with freedom once again and see that government, outside its limited, Constitutional cage, is not our friend but a greater enemy than any foreign invader.