EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnScott P. RichertrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrnHarold O.]. Brown, KatherinernDalton, Samuel Francis,rnGeorge Garrett, Paul Gottfried,rn}.0. Tate, Michael Washburn,rnClyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrnBill Kauffman, William Mills,rn]acoh Neusner, Srdja TrifkovicrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnThe Rockford InstituternPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnCindy LinkrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn928 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103.rnEditorial Phone: (815)964-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (815)964-5813.rnSubscription Department: P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IL 61054. Call 1-800-877-5459.rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by Eastern NewsrnDistributors, Inc., One Media Way, 12406 Rt. 250rnMilan, Ohio 44848-9705rnCopyright © 1998 by The Rockford Institute.rnAll rights reserved.rnChronicles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishedrnmonthly for $39.00 (foreign subscriptions add $12rnfor surface delivery, $48 for Air Mail) per year byrnThe Rockford Institute, 928 North Main Street,rnRockford, IL 61103-7061. Preferred periodicalrnpostage paid at Rockford, IL and additional mailingrnoffices. POSTMASTER: Send address changesrnto Chronicles, P.O. Box 800, Mount Monis,rnIL 61054.rnThe views expressed in Chronicles are thernauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflectrnthe views of The Rockford Institute or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied by a self-addressedrnstamped envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol. 22, No. 10 October 1998rnPrinted in the United States of AmericarnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESrnOn Pat Buchananrnand TradernKudos to Chronicles for “Sovereignty forrnSale? The Free Trade Debate” (July)rnand high praise to Brother Pat for “TowardrnOne Nation, Indivisible”! Onernthing, though: the Buchananite fairrntrade “Long March Back” will onlyrncome via the third-party route. The Republicansrnare but the Fabian wing of thernSocialist Party, the Democrats being thernJacobins of the same. The last two GOPrnCongresses have, after all the dust hasrnsettled, brought us more crime, higherrntaxes, and “Joe Chink” (to use a KoreanrnWar GI term for the People’s LiberationrnArmy) to California shores. Both PresidentrnClinton and Speaker Gingrich extolrnRed China. Where’s the difference?rn—Robert G. SepicrnNorman, OKrnPat Buchanan’s critics rail against tariffsrnon imports by saying that tariffs are taxesrnthat cause consumers to pay more. Didrnit ever occur to them that domestic taxesrnlike income taxes, FICA taxes, propertyrntaxes, etc., are tariffs on our own goods?rnWhereas tariffs on imports constitutedrnas much as 85 percent of federal revenuernup to 1913, today they account for lessrnthan one percent. The other 99 percentrnis a tariff on ourselves. Last year federal,rnstate, and local governments imposedrn$2.6 trillion worth of taxes/tariffs on ourrneconomy. Environmental, civil rights,rnsafety, labor, and monetary regulationsrnhave raised labor costs alone from 50rncents an hour in 1935 to $19 today andrnconstitute a tariff of more than 35 percentrnon our own products.rnThat being the case, government has arnmoral and constitutional responsibilityrnto protect those who abide by our lawsrnagainst any competitor who does not.rnNo one would condone exemption fromrnfederal tax and regulatory laws for a corporationrnthat closed a factory in one staternand moved to another. Yet when corporationsrnmove to other countries for thernspecific purpose of evading our laws,rnwhile sharing in our economic jackpotrnvirtually tax free, they are applauded forrnraising share values. Anyone who didrnthat in an honest poker game, withoutrnhaving anted-up, would lose his arm.rnAdam Smith would agree. In ThernWealth of Nations, he wrote: “It will generallyrnbe advantageous to lay some burdenrnon foreign nations for the encouragementrnof domestic industry whenrnsome tax is imposed on the produce ofrnthe latter. In this case, it seems reasonablernthat an EQUAL tax should be imposedrnupon the like produce of the former.rnEvery import of a product that can bernmade in America, and every dollar of ourrntrade deficit, erodes our economy for thernsimple reason that it is a forfeiture of production,rnwhich is the origin of all newrnwealth. Those who speak only of exportsrnbut nothing about imports and traderndeficits have no more integrity than arncorporate CEO who speaks only of salesrnbut nothing about expenses and operatingrnlosses.rnClaiming that the present “prosperity”rnis a reflection of free trade is like sayingrnthat no one was killed in the OklahomarnCity bombing because population is up.rnTrade policies must be judged on theirrnown merit.rnIn the last quarter-century, as tariffsrnhave been reduced, our economy hasrnsuffered a virtual holocaust. Instead ofrnthe largest creditor nation, we are nowrnthe world’s biggest debtor. We have lostrncontrol of our destiny to such a degreernthat foreigners now hold $1.3 trillionrnworth of mortgages on our federal treasuryrn(40 percent of our public debt) onrnwhich we pay them over $80 billion arnyear in interest. . . money that could bernput to far better use here in America.rnThe irony is, it was all our money in thernfirst place, but we parted with it under arnfool’s gold fantasy that we could enrichrnourselves by purchasing imports insteadrnof the products of our industries, contraryrnto economic law that tells us productionrncreates wealth, consumption dissipatesrnit.rnPat Buchanan stands as a beacon in arnmoral wasteland. He is right on abortion,rnright on homosexuality, right on education,rnand right on trade policy. Thernfact that he has been unfairly vilified inrnall of these areas is prima facie evidencernof the moral decline of our nation.rn— GusR. StelzerrnMill Creek, WArn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn