[CrossCheck]

It's amazing how quickly the pure libertarian/free trade view of the steel tariffs became an item of faith among the conservative talking heads and pundits. Typical of most in the punditocracy, they are apparently too ignorant or biased to formulate what I consider to be an intelligent discussion of the subject. The sum of their argument is "free trade good, tariffs bad", without any discussion of what "free" or fair trade is and what is truly in the national interest. I heard Walter Williams compare the steel industry to footwear for the military when discussing the issue in a national security context. What a joke.

[Grampa Dave]

You posted some great wisdom here: It's amazing how quickly the pure libertarian/free trade view of the steel tariffs became an item of faith among the conservative talking heads and pundits.

I think that you are also right re their mental abilities to understand these complicated issues. So they develop a mantra and use it like one of the 10 commandments. The problem is that in these issues, often there are so many issues and shades of variance in each issue like this one re the steel tariffs. You can't have a simplistic mantra for everything in life. Our forefathers didn't intend for mantras that if followed blindly could lead to damaging your self or even suicide.

Then, they try to make these things a moral issue like you will go to hell if you ever have a tariff. Then this repels a who lot of voters who are looking for some common sense instead something written on stone from a higher source.

What angers them is GW is not bound nor locked in with this jingo mantra thinking. He will not allow a small group of people to put him and American into a box and then punish us when we try to get out of their pre conceived box.