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To: Poison Pill

The analogy doesn’t apply. You seem to think protectionism is marxist. The Founding Fathers founded America as protectionist nation. So were they or not?


179 posted on 03/18/2016 6:54:55 AM PDT by Wyrd bið ful aræd (Don't Tread On Me)
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To: Wyrd bið ful aræd
So were they [marxist] or not?

Marxism is a late 19th Century critique of economic, social and industrial manufacturing dynamics that arose 50 years after the founding of the country. I can only assume from your question that you don't understand the basic timeline of world history. The theory of Marxism is 100 years removed from the founding of the country. Asking whether George Washington was a Marxist because he signed the Tariff Act of 1789 is like asking if Benjamin Franklin, who understood something of electricity, favored alternating or direct current to power his microwave oven.

The Founding Fathers founded America as protectionist nation.

The Founders were not monolithic in their approaches to just about anything. As far as the Tariff Act of 1789 is concerned, it was a compromise struck between those who wanted modest tariffs sufficient to fund govenrment operations only and those who wanted punitive tariffs as a means to protect their own economic interests at the expense of others.

In a mercantilist economy, a 2% tariff on incoming goods to fund basic operation makes sense given the alternatives available. A 50% tariff is simply rent seeking thievery.

186 posted on 03/18/2016 9:24:49 AM PDT by Poison Pill
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