Libertarian complaint

A libertarian pet peeve was Bush imposing steel tariffs. I shared the complaint. I viewed the imposition of steel tariffs as a blatant move to buy votes, exactly the sort of thing that always had me railing at the Democrats. The unusual thing about the steel tariffs was that they didn't last all that long. Bush removed them in the face of retaliation by trading partners. Are the Libertarians happy? Probably not, but I am, and I think the President is too.

CLEVELAND - President Bush is getting support from unlikely people in battleground states: some steelworkers who are grateful for temporary tariffs that helped the struggling steel industry begin rebounding.

...during Bush's presidency, steelworkers have been called back to work in Ohio and Indiana, and their jobs have been saved in West Virginia, he said. "That has a powerful impact on people's psyche."

Forty-two U.S. steel producers have filed for bankruptcy since late 1997, when foreign-made steel began flooding the market at prices below the cost of production.

The tariffs helped steelmakers earn more money while the industry reinvented itself through consolidation and cutting labor and other costs. At the same time, the U.S. industry boomed because it's been able to charge higher prices for steel that's in high demand as a shortage of raw materials used to make steel has kept production costs up. China has been buying all the raw materials it can get for its rapidly growing steel industry.

So it appears his vote buying bid was a success, and at this point I'm quite happy to forego a little libertarian purity if it helps him get re-elected. The most important thing right now is to elect a President who is willing to take bold steps in the war on terror. John Kerry has convinced me he will abandon the war on terror as soon as he feels it will not damage him politically to do it.

Comments

[John Weidner]

The trouble with libertarians is that they don't notice the many things the Administration has been doing to INCREASE free trade, not to mention the huge success of getting Fast Track passed. The Steel Tariffs seem to have totally filled their free-trade brain capacity.

And they don't seem to know that in real-life politics free trade initiatives are invariably accompanied by some ugly horse-trading and protectionist bribes to get bills passed.

[Tom Bowler]

Let's not be too tough on the libertarians. The underlying philosophy is sound, that liberty is a powerful force, and that free market forces have a policing effect. Libertarian abhorrence of ugly horse-trading and protectionist bribes comes about from past inability (or unwillingness) of our government to ever get rid of the negative after-effects of their deals. And there have been many that have lasted decades.

That said, libertarians have historically held an unrealistic view that much of government is unnecessary and can be done away with without unpleasant results. Easy to say when prospects of actually reducing government control were bleak, making libertarianism largely theoretical.

But now libertarian thought seems to be gaining in popularity there comes some realization that rule of law is key. Or maybe I'm getting older. At any rate, you are right that libertarians can be unrealistically perfectionist. Believe it or not I have been too.

Over the years I've watched the Republican party move closer to my libertarian philosophy, and at the same time I've become a little less the perfectionist. I still hate the designated hitter rule, though.