I am conservative Christian and despite many differences I have with Donald Trump I have supported him for President since the beginning of his candidacy last year. Donald Trump is neither a conservative candidate nor a liberal candidate but rather he is a populist and protectionist candidate.
First I want to dispel the notion that protectionism is incompatible with free market capitalism and conservatism.
Protectionism is NOT incompatible with free market capitalism and conservatism
Since Republicans began to abandon protectionism in the 1990s and joined the Democrats in embracing a pure free trade ideology some of them have tried to convince Republicans and conservatives that protectionism was incompatible with free market capitalism and conservatism. This could not be further from the truth.
The truth is that since the time of Lincoln the Republican Party has been a protectionist party. In fact even before that most Presidents of either party going back to our first Presidents were protectionists. Even though “tariff” is swear word today in modern politics until the 16th Amendment was adopted in 1913 the majority of the federal government’s income came from tariffs on goods from other nations.
The Democrats lead by FDR in 1932 successfully convinced Americans that tariffs had led to the great depression. See a larger discussion debunking this myth at http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2010/04/protectionism_didnt_cause_the.html
While free traders like to laud Reagan as free trader purist this is not historically accurate.
“President Reagan often broke with free-trade dogma. He arranged for voluntary restraint agreements to limit imports of automobiles and steel (an industry whose interests, by the way, I have represented). He provided temporary import relief for Harley-Davidson. He limited imports of sugar and textiles. His administration pushed for the “Plaza accord” of 1985, an agreement that made Japanese imports more expensive by raising the value of the yen.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/opinion/06lighthizer.html?_r=0
Our founders as well as most Presidents up until the early 20th century believed in free market capitalism in conjunction with protectionism. What that means is they believed that within the United States trade should be free and markets should be free but at they believed strongly in protecting the economic interests of the United States from the interests of other nations.
I am glad that Donald Trump is successfully being able to make the case to Americans that we need to bring back the historic protectionism that our nation used to embrace. Donald Trump is actually the first President since Ronald Reagan to be winning over many blue collar Democrats who are tired of watching their jobs being sent overseas.
Donald Trump’s Nationalism is good for our nation
Nationalism is the idea of rally a people around common historic and cultural values. We need Presidents that will put the American people and the American culture first. This is why Donald Trump’s immigration message is ringing so true with millions of Americans. We should be able to tightly control the immigrants coming into this nation whether they be from Mexico or Middle Eastern countries and no it is not racist to want to protect cultural balance of your country.
Donald Trump is the natural successor to Pat Buchannan
Most people may not remember but many things on Donald Trump’s platform especially regarding his protectionist and immigration policies mirror that of another Presidential Candidate back in 2000 – Pat Buchannan. But the reason Donald Trump is succeeding where Pat Buchannan failed is because our nation has actually seen what Pat Buchannan prophesied would come true. American has seen its manufacturing industry decimated over the last 16 years under Bush’s and Obama’s free trade policies. Also our culture is rapidly changing because of the lax immigration policies of 16 years of Bush and Obama.
The other reason Trump is succeeding where Buchannan failed is because he has two things Buchannan did not. He has a powerful persona like Reagan did (albeit very different from Reagan) and he has been extremely successful in the business world where Buchannan was more of a politician.
Why am I voting for Trump even though he is not a strong Christian?
Probably the biggest difference between Trump and Buchannan is the difference in their faiths. Buchannan is a man of deep faith where Trump is not. For some Christians this might be an issue but for me it is not.
I am not voting for the Pastor of my Church but rather I am voting for the President of my nation. Often time’s men who make great Pastors would not make great Presidents and vice versa. I do not kid myself that Donald Trump is even a true Christian. He might believe in God but that is about it. But I am not voting for him based on his faith but rather on his policies and my faith in his ability to protect the economy, security and culture of this nation.
I am also trusting in the fact that while he may not be a strong Christian – he has pledged to protect the freedoms of Christians to worship and conduct their businesses according to their faith. That is good enough for me.
I encourage my fellow Christians, conservatives and Republicans to join me in voting for Donald Trump tomorrow on Super Tuesday.
Photo Source for Donald Trump:
By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39399660
Biblical Gender Roles 
Excellent post BGR and a fine history lesson to boot! If As a native Kentuckian let me add as an addendum that Lincoln and the Republicans owed a great debt (which they freely acknowledged) to the American System of Henry Clay. Everyone remembers Clay for the compromises he authored that nearly saved the country from civil war but it was his economic philosophy that laid the foundation for the system that brought America so much prosperity for the next hundred years. Lincoln, in his epitaph of Clay called him the greatest of all American statesman. I’m not sure Abe was wrong.
To me Trump is bringing nationalism back to American politics when the other two parties seems only to offer either a path to socialism or libertarianism. One promises misery for all, the other promises misery for most. On the other hand nationalism and populism has a track record of working and working well. Its not a risk. Its a return to that, which well, made American great.
Donald Trump I’ll vote for if there is no better candidate available for President, though I would prefer if Mike Huckabee had become President, but he had to drop out due to lack of support. Trump, however, doesn’t believe in protecting the rights of officials to live by their faith in the performance of their duties, as proven by his statement regarding Kim Davis. He isn’t moral as well, so that turns me off by him. Mike Huckabee was a WONDERFUL Governor to Arkansas, hes an ordained Baptist minister, and had a lot of good ideas and specifics in what he’d do as President, so he was by far the best candidate.
I liked Mike huckabee as a man and I think he is a true believer. But he was not a nationalist or a protectionist which is something this nation has needed to get back for decades.
Trump is not perfect and as I said I don’t kid myself that he is a true believer. However we must remember that God has raised up non believers like Alexander the Great to accomplish his purposes. Alexander the Great was not exactly the poster child for morality either. But he actually protected the Jewish people during his reign because they showed him that their prophesies predicted his coming.
In the same way I believe God is raising up a nonbeliever in the form of Donald Trump to rebuild America. Perhaps after Donald Trump demonstrates how protectionism works other conservative Christian candidates will come to embrace it and then we can deal with the social issues
Protectionism is anti-free market. It leaves the government to pick winners and losers. While it may help some producers, it harms us all as consumers. Protectionism and nationalism can both be very dangerous forms of collectivism that conservatives support and allow a lot of dangerous policies to slip in the back door.
Also, great post recently on husbands risking divorce to confront rebellion.
My dislike of Trump has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he isn’t a Christian. I did support Romney after all (although he was not my first pick by far in the primaries). I can respect people’s decision to only support Christian candidates although I question the validity and the practicality of such a belief.
My dislike of Trump has to do with stuff like bragging about his affairs, his seeming inability to act like anything other than a toddler in public, his being a white supremacist, his talking about how he’d be banging his daughter if she wasn’t his daughter (I’d think that would bother you BGR as a father to a teenage daughter, bur perhaps not), the fact that he was pro-choice until making a dramatic shift in time to run as President (and then bragging about how he’s never done anything in his life that he felt he needed to apologize for….really makes me question that whole sudden pro-life shift). The fact that he’s a misogynist is an issue as well but other issues are bigger for me. I really feel like i’m just scraping the surface of all of the reasons he is a horrible leader for America.
I don’t need a candidate to be a Christian in order to have my vote. I do need a candidate to have even the smallest semblance of virtue. Trump has none. More than that, he brags about the fact and boasts that he’s never done anything in life he needed to apologize for.
AnnaMS,
I don’t like everything Trump has ever said or done nor do I kid myself that he is a great man of virtue. Often powerful men are narcissistic and immoral. But as I said in a previous comment sometimes God chooses immoral unbelievers to do his will – he did it with Alexander the Great who was a major whore monger and huge narcissist.
I voted for Trump in the primary, but for different reasons. The Republican party has drifted so far left and has lost what few principles it had. Trump may bring the Party back to the principles which made it different from the Democrat Party. Though I have been a Libertarian Party member since 1980 and embrace free market economics, I think it is good to have a principled Republican Party to oppose the rampant socialism of the Democrats. I was a strong follower of Ronald Reagan and volunteered in the effort to get him elected in 1980, while I was a college student. No candidate is perfect. I think that Donald Trump is the best candidate the Republicans have had since Ronald Reagan and the one with the most hope for this nation’s future.
God can definitely use them, yes. As He proved through Joseph’s story, that sometimes what we intend for evil, God intends to use for good. However, I don’t think that means that we should go about choosing evil because God can still use it. Especially at this point of the game where there are men of virtue and strong political beliefs to boot to vote for (I get that they’re not nationalists and protectionists as you would prefer….although I think that even if one agrees that is a good thing which I”m not getting into here, I think all the other issues combined would top that one issue).
“Ben Carson is a better choice.”
I agree. Kasich is my favorite candidate running, and Carson my second favorite. I hope that Trump picks Carson as a running mate if he wins the primaries.
I have some of the same reservations as Anna, but recently I spoke to a friend (another former nurse) who had a patient who was a relative of Trump’s. She said he came by the facility every day for two weeks and they got to know him quite well. She said he was a very nice, very humble and generous man. It was exactly the opposite of what she’d expected (this was many years ago, but Trump’s reputation for arrogance was very well known then). She worked with quite a few famous people at the time, and he stood out as unusually kind and generous, strangely. Or perhaps not so strangely?
Idk, Liz, Trump might want you to keep that one on the DL. That’s not really the public image he’s worked so hard to maintain. I do love Carson though. Just don’t think he has much of a chance at this stage. Sad really.
I see a lot of flak from other Christians over Trump, even to the point of hearing ‘if you are going to vote for Trump you need to question yourself as a christian’. The office of president of the United States is an office of an employee of the people. When you are fulfilling an employee position you look for the person best qualified for the job. If that person is a Christian, all the better! But I seriously doubt that the same Christians that are deriding others for their political choices would proclaim that they would rather have an inept or inexperienced Christian as their employee over an experienced non-Christian. I see a number of people running for the office who look qualified, but I see one who looks like he has the fortitude and drive to go beyond what is required of him to complete his job. I don’t know that I will vote for Trump, but I don’t see why Christians are attacking each others faith over it. That’s just bad form.
Liz,
I have heard that Trumps persona in private with his friends and family and also just in helping people is very different than his public persona. The reason is when he is doing business in the business world he wants his business adversaries to fear him. He is the same in the political arena. But in private he is said to be a very kind and generous man and that is one of the reasons Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr endorsed Trump.
I have also heard many stories on Facebook and elsewhere we he has private helped many veterans and this was years ago before he was thinking of running for President.
My oldest son really likes Carson but I think he is too soft to be President. He is a highly intelligent man and very moral and Christian man in my opinion. But while those qualities might be great in Pastor – a President requires different qualities.
SnapperTrx,
I agree with you. If I was hiring an architect to build my home I am choosing who has the best track record in architecture, not the architect who is the nicest and most moral Christian. In fact I have actually hired Christians from my church to do some work on homes I have had over the years just because I went to Church and knew them as a good person. Some of them did great work and others did shotty work and I had to hire and unbeliever that was better at it to fix it.
A President must project strength and power – this is something that Trump crushes every other person on the stage with. Being president is not about being the most intelligent guy or the kindest guy or the most moral guy – it is about being able to manage the affairs of nation both domestically and internationally. It is about protecting the people, the culture and economy of that that Nation.
I trust that Trump will gather around himself the best advisers in all areas of Government to help him make wise decisions. I would love to see him team up with Ben Carson to get rid of Obama Care and replace it with better healthcare rules that will help the system. I would love to see a Chris Christy as attorney general of the United States.
Interesting. Pat Buchanan, in my opinion, is a white supremacist, and I’d hardly ever consider him to be any brother of mine in Christ.
But I’m one who believes that white supremacy, as cosmopolitan as it is, isn’t as much of a concern to some, as it is to others….even Christians.
Ended post too soon…
That being said, Trump might be a shot in the arm for America.
I’d consider him way less dangerous than Ted Cruze, and likely more effective than Rubio.
@BGR
I am really irritated at all these fellow Christians and their attitudes toward this election. If they want to see moral change they should roll up their sleeves, get their hands dirty and get involved in LOCAL politics! I don’t know why Christians seem to think that politics is beneath them or something they are banished from! If you think the system stinks and you think its corrupt, get in there and change it! If Christians ran for local offices and Christians would stop sitting on their hands and go vote for those Christians running we could make a big impact quickly! Salt is no good if you leave it in the cupboard! Stop blaming Trump, or even Obama, and start getting involved! Why does the left triumph over the right? Because they have an army of people who get involved in one way or another. Its driving me crazy!
Pedat,
I do not agree with Pat Buchanan in all his views and in fact I have yet to meet a Christian whom I would agree with all their views on. But if I were to dismiss Pat Buchanan as a Christian because of his white supremacist views I would have to dismiss most Americans as not being Christians before the last century. I could say today that if any Christian thinks homosexual marriage is ok or abortion is ok they can’t be a Christian. What about if people rejected what I believe to be clear Biblical gender roles in Scripture?
My point is a person is not saved because of what they believe or don’t believe on political issues, cultural issues or even racial issues. They are not even saved because they believe in all the doctrines of the Bible. A person is saved because they accept they are sinner before God, in need of his salvation and they place their faith in trust in the one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus. If they do this – they can be wrong, cooky and weird in a dozen other ways and they will still be with the Lord in heaven.
BGR,
I wouldn’t normally respond to something like this, but because I respect you so much for your contribution to my life in other areas (the primacy of scripture, biblical masculinity, etc.), I felt like I had to chime in.
Supporting Donald trump seems to me a massive, unnecessary risk. Personality factors aside (although he is definitely childish and petty), there are several bigger issues to consider:
1. He has a pattern of blatant lying and demagoguery. You’re correct that it may be helpful to have a nationalist/protectionist president, but I am not confident AT ALL that Donald Trump is actually a nationalist and protectionist. I more inclined to believe he is an opportunist who will say anything for personal advancement. A good example is his promise to build a 40 foot wall and get Mexico to pay for it. This will obviously never happen, and you know it. He also claims he will deport 40 million people. That also will never happen, and you know it. Why would you be willing to trust the word of a man who has no issue telling grandiose lies to the American public in order to increase his media exposure and exploit a small fraction of the party that has limited understanding of how government operates? Another example is Obama’s birth certificate. Why would he bring this up in the past, other than to whip into a frenzy a small fraction of the population and increase his media exposure, all for his own self-aggrandizement? The bible says you can tell a tree by its fruit; what BEHAVIORS has he demonstrated that suggest he is actually committed to conservative ideals, whether social ideals, national defense ideals, or economic ideals? To, me it seems he is approaching the presidency like he has every other venture in the past, including his reality TV show. It’s all about HIM. He doesn’t actually believe any of the things he’s saying. He’s not a conservative.
2. Lets say he actually does believe the things he espouses, there is now a second danger. He appears to be sympathetic to authoritarianism. He has demonstrated little respect for the constitution and the restraints of the executive. You mention Alexander the Great. He was a dictator. There have been other authoritarian, nationalist, protectionist leaders in the past, several of them became prominent in Europe in the 20th century. I don’t think I have to name names. If Donald Trump demonstrated any principles to suggest he would not misuse government power, then I would feel more confident. The problem is, he hasn’t demonstrated ANY RELIABLE principles. He speaks like a tyrant. If he does move the country down an authoritarian path, which seems highly possible, do you really want your name associated with that? Do you want to explain to your grandchildren why you cast your sacred vote for this man?
3. You mention that Trump is “strong.” What evidence do you have? Why would he be so thin-skinned about reporters asking him tough questions, or being challenged in a debate…so thin-skinned that he would pout and refuse to show up for a debate, or call someone a “pussy.” Trump seems “strong” to me the same way a schoolyard bully seems “strong.” I think there’s a good chance he’s fronting for the fact that he is has a deeply insecure and unstable psyche.
4. This is the least important point, but nevertheless significant. I care about the future of the conservative movement. Trump is fracturing the party. We need someone who can unite the party, not divide it. We need someone who can actually WIN the election, and I’m not convinced at all that Trump is the best candidate for the general election. So far he has only been able to attract approximately 1/3 of REPUBLICAN voters. How will he attract a majority of the general population, especially now after he has made so many veiled racist comments and insulted so many people in the country (including a lot of conservatives). I think there is a good chance that if Trump win the nomination, he will ensure DECADES more of liberal rule in Washington. Even if you don’t agree as much with the other candidates, it’s clear they have a better chance of winning, and thus advancing the conservative cause.
I’m a very conservative, devout evangelical Christian. I WILL NOT be voting for Trump. If he is the nominee, I will abstain from voting. I cannot associate with this man. It seems like too much of a risk. I’m surprised it’s a risk you would be willing to take.
WestCoastChristianConservative,
Thank you for your respectful disagreement with me about Trump and I am glad my site has been a blessing to you in other areas. Let me say first and foremost that I hope you won’t let my political views keep you away from other things we talk about on this site. I don’t expect anyone to agree with me on all my views – I am just one man and I could be wrong. My son disagrees with me about Trump – he liked Carson better. My wife likes Cruz better. In fact it is very common for people to come to this site and embrace my views on what I think our attitude toward sexuality should be based on the Bible but they completely reject my views on gender roles in marriage. While on the other side I have people come here and completely embrace and agree with my views on gender roles but they reject my views on what I believe is Biblical sexuality. Now I have opened a third category for people to agree or disagree with me on – the area of politics and culture.
If you would have told me four years ago that I would be supporting Trump in this election I would not have believed you. Like you I have always voted for that candidate with the most conservative credentials down the line.
I have been a political junkie since I was a child. When other kids watched sports with their Dads my father had me watching the nightly news and reading newspapers. I was too young to remember Reagan but the first election I still remember was George H. W. Bush against Dukakis. I watched the rise of Clinton as well as the second Bush. I watched the rise of Obama. I finally realized something after looking back at all those elections.
Positions on the issues and character do NOT win elections. It is the power of a person’s personality and their ability to connect with the hopes and aspirations of the people that win’s an election.
You say Trump is making “grandiose” promises to the American people – but I say what he is doing is what Reagan did, what Clinton did, what George W. Bush did and yes even what Obama did in his first election – he is inspiring the nation and giving people some hope! Now granite we may not always agree with the “hope” that a President is trying to inspire. But on the issues of immigration, nationalism and protectionism that Donald Trump is building our hopes on – you bet I hope he succeeds!
I like Cruz but there is no way he will win many moderates or Democrats. Reagan and George W. Bush proved you must win at least the moderates or some Democrats or you will not win. Bush got moderates. Reagan got moderates and democrats. Trump can get both moderates and democrats.
Some people wrongly compare Mitt Romney with Donald Trump. They say things like “they are both moderates and not true conservatives”. I believe they are only half right. I will concede that Donald Trump is not a true conservative in the way that Ted Cruz is (especially as it relates to the social issues). But Donald Trump is definitely more conservative than Mitt Romney by a mile on these key issues – immigration, nationalism and protectionism. Mitt Romney could not hold a candle to Donald Trump on these issues. I had to hold my nose as I voted for Romney back in 2012.
There are many things I disagreed with that Trump has done. I certainly do not agree with him womanizing lifestyle. I did not agree with him on the birther issue and a host of other issues. Will he build a 40 foot wall on the southern border? Perhaps not. But do I believe he will at least build a fence? Absolutely I do. Do I believe he will make large increases in border patrol? Yes. I truly believe that some type of a physical border and MASSIVE increases in border security and deportation will be a legacy issue for Mr. Trump. It is very much the same as how national health care was the center piece of Obama’s agenda when he was running. Mr. Trump does have a track record of being a builder and that is why I have every confidence that he will build some type of protection on the southern border.
Is he a true conservative on all the issues – I doubt it. But I do believe he takes conservative positions on some issues. He is to the right of every candidate that has run on the issue of immigration and protection of the homeland. I do truly believe he is a nationalist and wants to protect the American cultural from influences that scare Americans specifically cultural influences on the Southern border and Cultural influences from the Middle East. This is NOT a racism thing – it is a cultural thing. We have the right as a nation to protect our culture from influences that we do not want.
My response here has been too long already…LOL. I will address your remaining issues in a second response.
WestCoastChristianConservative,
Here is the rest of my response on your reservations about Trump.
As to your concerns about Trump becoming an authoritarian. I don’t think we as the people of the United States would tolerate Trump blatantly violating or overthrowing the constitution, although we might be ok with him bending it a bit if he is fighting the government bureaucracies and entrenched powers in D.C. I was surprised to see how much Obama has bent the Constitution over his 8 years and few people blinked an eye at him.
We need someone to go into D.C. and bust up the cartels as Ted Cruz says. The problem is I don’t think Ted Cruz would ever get there to break up the cartels the way he wants to. He can’t win the moderates and democrats the way Trump can. He also does not have persona and force of will that Trump has.
As far as a risk – I tell my children all the time “anything in life that worth fighting for is always a risk”. I could be wrong on Trump and he does not do what he promised and does things that I did not think he would do. If he does that I will be right with you in opposing him for a second term.
But I think the greater risk is going with a guy like Ted Cruz that will not win moderates or democrats and he will lose the election to Hillary.
On the issue of Trump’s strength. My evidence of Trump’s strength is in ability to 2 million dollar loan from his father decades ago and turn into a 10 billion dollar empire.
It is the fact that people fear him when doing business with him. He runs a tight ship in all his businesses and 95 percent of business dealings have been successes. Yes some of his businesses went bankrupt, but this was fraction of what he has done over the decades. He has demonstrated his ability in the business world not only domestically, but also internationally. When he sets his mind to something he does it. On the issue of interviews yes has an ego and that sometimes affects him. But again many great leaders in history have had egos.
I care about the conservative movement as well. But as the Liberty University President pointed out – we can’t save conservatism until we first save our country. He pointed out that Cruz may make a great President after Trump but we need to save the country first. If Trump wins he will push conservatives to embrace nationalist and protectionists polices. Conservatives in my opinion wrongly left protectionism in the 90’s.
We need immigration and economic policies that protect the culture and economy on the United States from outside influences that would weaken either our culture or our economy.
Once we protect our country from outside influences then we get to the hard work of changing the cultural problems we have internally that we talk about on this site all the time.
Wood Chipper,
I do not agree that Protectionism is anti-free market. That position that protectionism is incompatible with free market capitalism is not in line with historic American policies of Capitalism. Our founding fathers were very much free market people but most Presidents of any party up to FDR did not believe that protectionism was incompatible with free market capitalism.
I would agree with you that the US Government should NOT pick winners and loosers INSIDE the American economy with American companies competing against each other. However the US government should always want US companies to win when competing with non US companies.
I am not saying the government should be doing bail outs of US companies. But I whole heartedly believe in the use of tariffs to encourage Americans to buy American made products and this was the historic position of the America for 150 years before FDR. I am a fair-trader(with a leaning in toward American business) not a free trader.
Free trade policies have decimated the US manufacturing industry and costs millions of jobs. People like my father and my grand father who could find work in manufacturing plants can no longer do that. Now their only choice is Mcdonalds or working at Walmart. And I don’t buy the whole “well just go to college” stuff – not everyone is made for college and higher education – but don’t get me started on that.
BGR, all I can say is, I hope you’re right!
I honestly do hope that if Trump is nominated, he will unite the conservative movement. If he wins, I hope he will follow-through with his promises, rebuild the economy, rebuild the military, and strengthen the culture.
At this point I am not at all convinced, but let’s wait and see.
A part of me fears we are squandering an opportunity to win the presidency and maintain control of both houses, which would allow us to push forward a conservative agenda in the same way Obama did his first two years. Hillary is weak candidate, and the country is tired of liberal leadership. If we nominate Trump and end up losing to Hillary, and hurting all the republicans down the ticket causing us to lose the senate, then I will have a hard time blaming anyone else but my fellow conservatives who supported such a flawed candidate. I would be NO pleasure from saying “told you so,” so I honestly do hope I’m wrong!
And no, your views will not push me away from your blog. I know there are millions of well-meaning Christians who hold your perspective, otherwise Trump wouldn’t be winning in the South. I can see your arguments and believe you are well-meaning and thoughtful. There is no absolute truth with politics like there is with scripture. And again, I thank you for helping me to understand scriptural truths more clearly.
I must say honestly that when smart people say they support Trump, I do start to question their judgement….but again, we can disagree on this. I hope I’m wrong! 🙂
There is something I have not yet heard on this (Trump) subject: “11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” John 19:11. Do “we the people” really elect the President and all others in government? Sometimes I think about the moral depravity that this nation is sinking deeper into and how we are moving further away from fearing and honoring God. Through most of our history we did honor, love and respect God. Not completely or perfectly but as a nation. There was a reason why our coins were inscribed with the words, “In God we trust.”
After Solomon, ten tribes left Israel and formed a northern kingdom. They were outside God’s will and sank deeper into disobedience and depravity with every generation. God disciplined the tribes by giving them evil kings. For a time, the kingdom prospered economically but continued to decline morally and move further from God. The kingdom never had a single good king. Every king was evil. Some worse than others. They were warned by God’s prophets repeatedly to repent and turn from their immorality and disobedience. You know how it ended for Israel.
I see The United States Of America going down the path of the northern tribes of Israel. I think this decline started in the mid 1960’s. Just as a snowball rolling down a hill, it has increased in intensity and outrageousness. God has reacted by giving us leaders who are evil and godless. Not just Presidents but
other leaders, as well.
Are we really in control of who runs our government? Perhaps indirectly. Perhaps if Americans can come to their senses and realize that they are worshiping false idols and raising immorality to a level of respectability and turning their back on Biblical morality and righteousness, then God will relent from the way He has been disciplining the nation and give us a good President who fears and worships God, upholds the nations’ laws and believes in the lessons and morals of Scripture.
My hope is that some day soon this will happen. If it does not, we can look at the experience of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and see how this nation declined from Godly morals and great wealth to mediocrity and perhaps worse.
BGR,
I think you are oversimplifying protectionism. Frederick Bastiat referred to it as the “seen vs the unseen.” You see the loss of a steel making job, but don’t see all that is created in the economy because steel can be produced cheaper.
A lot of these hard, laborious jobs often seem to be over-glamourized lately. I also agree that men are having a harder time finding a place in a more feminized corporate world where most muscle has been replaced by machines, but we don’t solve it by paying men to dig holes and fill them in again. We could end unemployment tomorrow by banning farm equipment, but we would all end up poorer, no? If China’s government wants to subsidize our steel or anything else, I say let them.
Protectionism has always been a tool used by crony capitalists to thrive at the expense of everyone else and dates back far beyond the birth of our nation. While I think your intentions are good, it isn’t the President’s job to put strongholds on the economy (though they often do).
Wood Chipper,
I am not against automation and ingenuity replacing manual labor jobs. I would not favor the government purposefully stopping automation and ingenuity to create manual labor jobs. But I AM for the government stepping in and protecting its economy not from automation or ingenuity, but from unfair trade practices by other nations. I also believe that the government should have a vested interest in making sure that we maintain a strong manufacturing base for national security purposes. And yes when it comes to critical resources like steel and oil the government has a vested interest in making sure that we can produce these things on our own in case we go to war with foreign powers and loose those resources from those countries.
Modern conservatism(especially as it has form since the 90s) and this free trade globalization that has been blindly accepted as truth has hallowed out and destroyed the US manufacturing industrial complex. Even the man who was called “Father of Reaganomics” – Paul Craig Roberts(Reagan’s assistant Treasury secretary) has written a book on “How the economy was lost” and details how the free trade globalization polices of both Republicans and Democrats since the 90s have helped to destroy the manufacturing sector of our economy and it is even hurting the services industry. He talks about the fact that if the US government does not return to the historic practice of our founders and not only militarily protect our nation but also economically protect our nation we will eventually turn into a third world country where much of the population is at or near the poverty level.
Trump is the only candidate who fully understands this and this is why his support is so strong. The American people understand that we are at economic war with China, Mexico and other countries whether we want to admit it or not. The American people will no longer stand for a government that cares nothing for the decimation of our domestic industries all to get a cheaper product on a store shelf. In the end the way we got that cheap price was a result of cheating by other nations and the failure of our government to protect our economy from economic attacks of other nations.
BGR,
What do you see as unfair trade practices and economic warfare? I’m under the belief that where goods do not cross boarders, soldiers usually end up crossing in their place.
The solution isn’t to use the force of government to restrict trade, but to be left alone by the government so that this is the most free place to do business. Generations of people came here to get away from restrictive governments and to be able to earn their own way.
The government would rather make it more expensive to do business with other countries than slash regulations and taxes that make it so expensive and difficult to do business here at home. Protectionism is a win for government, not for you and I as producers AND consumers.
Wood Chipper,
As a limited government conservative myself I agree with you whole heartedly that we have too many taxes and too many regulations on American businesses and this certainly has a stifling affect on the economy in addition to the economic warfare being waged against us by China, Mexico and other countries. You ask how they are doing this? Is it a fair trade practice to devalue your currency to make your goods cheaper than the nation you are trying to sell too?
I don’t fault China, Mexico or any other country for trying to protect their own economies and industries from outside interests. So if China or Japan wants to slap tariffs on American cars so it is harder for us to sell them there – go for it they have that right. But if they want to purposefully manipulate their currency so they can export cheaper goods to America – that is an unfair trade practice in my view.
But in the same way that China can protect their industries by making it harder for America to sell goods there we as Americans have that right to do that to their goods coming in as well. In fact as I have said adnausium in this post and in the comments this was the historic position of the United States to protect its economy from harmful outside influences.
I realize that many free trader globalization conservatives like yourself feel that global free trade makes for more peace because when countries are more economically dependent they are less likely to go to war. In fact that was the whole strategy behind globalization and the free trade movement after World War II. But what we have come to realize and as I pointed out the father of Reaganomics and other economists realize is when you completely lay down and let every nation walk all over your economy eventually your economy will fail. This is the great divide that now exists within the Republican party and also the conservative movement.
Some say we just cut back on government regulations while watching our manufacturing and other industries crumble in the dustbin of history and everything will be be fine. While other conservatives believe we need to return to the historic position of our founding fathers that the government has a duty to protect the economy of the nation it serves.
Yes generations came here to get away from restrictive governments and to earn their own way. But those same generations up until FDR in 1932 depended on that same government to protect them both military and economically from foreign powers and this is something our government has failed to do.
So if China depreciating its currency is a net negative, are you also against sales at Walmart? We give them paper and they give us more goods than the day before.
How about if it costs me $40 a piece to grow indoor pineapples in downtown Chicago, would Chicago natives be better off getting $5 pineapples from Hawaii or being forced to pay $45 by law so I can compete?
Governments destroy places of industry like Detroit, other countries like China or Japan didn’t destroy it. My point is that we could force everyone to pay more for goods to make them in our backyard or we could keep government out of it, use cheap goods from other countries, and build even greater wealth here. The other problem is that we choose to consume more and more of our wealth rather than using it as capital to create even more wealth.
Ohh I just can’t resist but to give my 2cents…
I really don’t think Donald Trump is a racist. I’ve known plenty of racists and they are not so hard to spot. Some racists are overt, some are covert, and some are full of shame and self loathing for their racism but are none the less racists. All of them can wake up and overcome their racism and many are. Trump is a sophisticated and worldly man. He isn’t narrow minded and he loves people. The confusion is because Trump believes in limiting immigration and naming Americas enemies. He is practical and calls things as they are. What other way, that is purely racial, is Trump racist? Remember when Dirty Harry said “I’m not racist; I hate everyone”? Well, Trump has friends and he has enemies. Both groups seem equally and significantly diverse. What more proof do you need? Now he may call an enemy a racist insult or something just to hurt his enemy, but I still don’t think he is a racist. He just doesn’t fit the profile and I’ve known so many. My guess is that the definition of “racist” is morphing into “a person I find despicable and don’t agree with politically” before our very eyes.
BGR,
It’s August now and the field has changed.
I, at first, liked Cruz because of how he presented himself as a Senator. I loved the way he didn’t seem to take any BS during hearings and kept asking the same question if needed to get a real answer. But then the debates came, he seemed passive and that interview with his wife just didn’t sit well.
I also liked Carson. Brilliant man. aligns with my views on almost every mark. But he acted weak, unable to make a coherent sentence on the spot and the others walked all over him. If you need a moment to make a statement, take a moment, make it clear/concise and don’t let anyone interrupt you. He completely failed on that mark and they ate him up.
I also was a Trump supporter for similar reasons as I was for Ross Perot. The government sometimes needs to be ran like a business in order to clean the crap out of the works. However, later in Trump’s candidacy, I just started seeing him more of a clown than anything.
I now advocate for Johnson. He hasn’t change his views on hardly anything which means he actually believes what he says. He’s for less government intervention in personal lives, return of previously restricted freedoms in the name of “public safety”, end the ridiculous “war on drugs”, pull our troops from needles foreign involvement, etc. Unless I missed it somewhere, of all the candidates mentioned on this thread, I’m surprised I haven’t seen any mention of him (Johnson).
What is your view on Johnson and how have your opinions on Trump changed in the last 5 months, if at all?