[general_re]

Okay, fine - so the 2 or 3 companies, and the relative handful of workers they employ, that supply the military with boots and tents and bandages should get some extra consideration. But, I think we both know that these are a tiny fraction of the companies that make up the CPUSA Council (somebody should tell them that "CPUSA" stood for "Communist Party of the United States of America", long before they existed), if they're even members at all.

So, do the rest of them deserve special protection? Is stocking the shelves of Wal-Mart with genuine Made in the USA underwear critical to national security?

I think not. I think there's no particularly good reason to prop up uncompetitive underwear and shirt and tennis-shoe makers just because they think their services are worth more than people are willing to pay. And that's exactly what we're all being asked to do - what they want is for all of the rest of us to be forced to pay higher prices for textiles than we otherwise would, just so they can live the lifestyle they think they somehow "deserve".

Well, they don't "deserve" anything more than the rest of us get. The labor of a textile worker is no different than anyone else's labor - it's worth what you can get someone to give you for it, no more and no less. And they've priced themselves out of the market.

So, if you want to listen to their claims that somehow they're special and deserve special protection, I ask you - why are they special? Why should they get protection others don't? Where do you draw the line? Must we take steps to prop up the living standards of everyone who feels they're getting less than they "deserve"?

There's a word for that, and it isn't "capitalism"...