From: "Linda Muller"
Date sent: Sun, 19 Dec 1999
Subject: [BRIGADE] Note from Pat: Re: Academic Mush...
Dear Brigade,
Yesterday, Pat sent me this personal note responding the paleolibertarian
criticisms of his speech. I asked him if I could pass it on to the
Brigade and he said he would be delighted!
GO PAT GO!!!
Linda
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Date sent: Sat, 18 Dec 1999 11:20:22 EST
Subject: Re: [BRIGADE] Academic Mush v Pat Buchanan
To: linda@buchanan.org
Linda,
Guess my old friend, Lew, is conflicted. The basic point on tariffs is:
We have to finance government with taxes. What kind of taxes are least
intrusive, most visible and honest, and best for the nation as opposed to
the world? (Recall: Adam Smith's book was "The Wealth of Nations," not
"The Wealth of the World.")
Washington, Hamilton, Madison, with his 1816 tariff, Quincy Adams with The
Tariff of Abominations which dwarfed Smoot-Hawley, Andy Jackson, who was
ready to go to war rather than let South Carolina opt out; Lincoln, who
said, "Give me a tariff and I will make this the greatest country on
earth," and presided over 10 Morrill tariff hikes, the great Bill
McKinley, and T.R. ("Thank God I am not a free trader"), all believed
tariffs were the best form of taxation.
Tariffs are a consumption tax, placed only on foreign-made goods. Tariffs
replace, or substitute for, taxes on the incomes of Americans. They are a
sales tax that exempts goods made in the USA. Customs officers can
collect them.
Who are the early free-trade-uber alles folks? Ricardo, the Mills (pere
et fils), Say, Bastiat, Marx, the younger Keynes (a late convert to
Buchananism), Wilson and FDR -- not a conservative in the lot. But all
four Americans on Mount Rushmore ended their careers and lives as
"protectionists."
The alternatives to tariffs include taxes on the incomes of American
citizens, on the savings, on their capital gains, on the income of U.S.
corporations, etc. Why would anyone prefer those kinds of taxes to
tariffs?
Tariffs may be looked upon as the "ante," the entrance fee foreign
companies and countries pay to get equal access to our market. As for
those who cry that it is the American consumer who pays the tariff, ask
them, if that is so, why is it that the foreign merchant are the ones who
scream loudest in protest of tariffs?
My difference with the libertarians is that I believe in a national free
market, where tax-and-tariff systems are designed by patriots who want
their nation to be the most independent and self-sufficent on earth with
the highest wages and standard of living for their own people. America
First! They believe in a global free market; and if that means that U.S.
factories and jobs go overseas, so what!
Also, Linda, get a look at Justin Raimondo's latest commentary on my
speech at CSIS; and tell the folks it is out there; and convey to Justin
my personal thanks.
Pat
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[NOTE to the Brigade] Justin's column is on our site at:
http://www.buchanan.org/no-99-1217-justin.html
PAT BUCHANAN AND THE NEW HUMANISM
