Posted on 11/18/2006 3:31:50 PM PST by RWR8189
It's hard to recall now, but Democrats were once America's free trade party. Reed Smoot, Willis Hawley and Herbert Hoover--the President who signed their infamous 1930 tariff--were all Republicans. This history is worth recalling as resurgent Democrats in Congress debate whether to set off in a protectionist direction that repudiates much of their heritage.
Amid the breakdown of the international trading system in the 1930s, the man who began to rebuild it was a Democratic Secretary of State, Cordell Hull. With FDR's support, he negotiated a series of bilateral trade deals that Harry Truman used as the basis for the revival of the multilateral trading system known as GATT in 1947.
Two decades later, John Kennedy pushed for freer trade with Latin America as part of his Alliance for Progress. And however reluctant at first, Bill Clinton eventually supported and signed Nafta, the creation of the World Trade Organization and most-favored-nation trading status with China. Mr. Clinton also refused to impose steel tariffs, a temptation that captured President Bush.
This is a proud pro-growth tradition, helping to keep America competitive as the world's greatest destination for capital and goods. The question now is whether Democrats newly elected to Congress will squander that legacy and turn to the populist, protectionist left. The early portents aren't encouraging.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Times change.
In early 1990s, it was Bill Clinton who ignited fire from East and Southe East Asian countries because his policies of tying trade with human rights. The rise of Asian Values, etc. by Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia, for instance, was specifically directed to Clinton & Co.
There is not now and never will be anything resembliing free trade-not when you have markets closed in Japan and Europe and in China as well. The only suckers with open markets-the USA.
I have no idea what this article is about! Sure there are a few hold over mecantilists in the Democrats, and there are a few in the GOP. But neither party can be called "protectionist".
The biggest fighters against Free Trade in the last 20 years have been:
Ross Perot - an independent Pat Buchanan - a Republican, later independent Lou Dobbs - an independent
Name one main stream Dem who is anti-free-trade?
What is this article about?
Democrats were also slave owners and plantation owners, and republicans wanted emancipation for them.
Free Traders---I dunno about that
Free-Loaders----Yeah no doubt about that one.
"Democrats were once free traders, and could be again"
Keep dreaming. Bush's fasttrack for free trade agreements will not be renewed (thankfully) in 2007 with a democratic majority.
"Clinton campaigned for an singed NAFTA."
What are you talking about? I was just reading the 1992 debates a few weeks ago and it was obvious Clinton took no real stand (he could have later in the election I guess, but that is doubtful.) Perot opposed it, Bush Sr. supported it and Clinton was just kind of like "we'll see."
That is what I mean.
You have your pom-poms out for nancy pelosi tonight, don't ya.
"You have your pom-poms out for nancy pelosi tonight, don't ya."
Not nearly as much as you will when Nancy Pelosi and George Bush team up to pass an amnesty for illegals bill. They'll probably even share press conferences and dinners saying what a "big step forward" their amnesty bill will be.
Uh you are the one celebrating the democrat majority, earlier in this thread(i.e reply #7).
I have a clear conscience and voted a straight GOP ticket. I did not give nancy pelosi a proxy vote by sitting out this election or give her a direct vote, by voting for some supposedly new "consersvative" democrat, as IMO, I suspect you did napkin.
Uh so napkin? You post a thread by pat buchanan, a person who hates Presdinent Bush and was rooting for a GOP defeat, and who gets his paycheck to be literally chrissy matthews "Monica" on the MSDNC show "Hardball".
I wasn't celebrating the democrats' victory. I was responding to what someone posted in regards to free trade. I oppose "free" trade to most extents. Oh well. I voted for every GOP candidate on the ballot.
"I'm registered democrat." -Dane
Uh napkin, in your reply #7 you were celebrating the democrat voctory.
As for my being registered democrat, and I have stated this a million times on FR, the reason I am registered democrat is because in my state with a closed primary system, the democrat primary(especially in local races) are the competitive races and in the GOP primary, the GOP candidate 99% of the time runs unopposed in the GOP primary, so I vote for the most conservative democrat and 99% of the time in local races I vote for the GOP candidate in the General election, and in Federal races I vote 100% GOP.
And Republicans, including Lincoln, wanted to exile America's blacks to Africa or Central America. History can be a two-edged sword. Some Republican opposition to the expansion of slavery came from nothing more than racism. Lincoln's home state of Illinois had a law prohibiting free blacks from living there.
LOL--The Chamber of Commerce grovels at the gate of the victiorious barbarians.
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