(03-29-2024, 08:00 AM)The Real Marty Wrote:

(03-28-2024, 09:13 PM)Lucky2Last Wrote: You and Mikey... 2 peas in a pod, man. You both claim to be conservative leaning, but you voted for Biden. You don't get to duck behind your past when people call you a Democrat. We don't care how you self-identify. You watch their news. You repeat their lies. You vote for their candidates. Establishment types are just quibbling over how to spend taxpayer dollars at this point. Every person that voted for Biden is responsible for putting people in office who don't care about Americans. That's you. You might not have a D next to your name, but may as well.

As to your point about Trump lying. Duh. Everyone knows it. If you want to cling to the few Trump worshippers out there and cast that net on everyone who can recognize the real problem in this country (power-hungry establishment types), that's on you. Trump lies because he's a narcissist. Yes. Even when he doesn't have to. If it's a threat to his ego. He lies. 

You would rather vote for liars who are supported by other liars, who start new wars and point the finger at other people while our system of government and economy collapses, than vote for a liar who lies about the size of his hands who doesn't start new wars and makes companies accountable for their actions (at least more than what we are used to). Great job, Democrat.

I'm not really a Democrat or a Republican (although I am a registered Republican).  I'm not really a liberal or a conservative.  My views on various issues are not consistent with those labels.  I agree with Biden on some things, and I agree with Trump on some things, and I have strong disagreements with both of them.  I would probably vote for a Republican if it was someone other than Trump.  I am not a populist, I am not a protectionist, I don't like tariffs, and I believe in free markets.  I also don't like identity politics, or affirmative action, or forgiving student loans.  I believe climate change is real and we should try to do something about it.  I think we need to seriously deal with the deficit, and I don't see either side willing to do that.  I think we need to stop illegal immigration and allow more legal immigration.  I'm on the fence about abortion; I can see both sides of that issue.  I think we need to support Ukraine and Nato.

You tell me, am I a conservative or liberal?  A Republican or a Democrat?  

So that leaves me on the fence, and that's why Trump's repulsive character tips the scales.

I believe in free market principles as well, but are markets truly free when China uses artificially cheap labor?  They're basically cheating the free market (this is one way, pegging their currency exchange rate to ours is another) and we're playing along because it benefits us in the short term, but is actually bad for us in the long term because it enriches and empowers a communist regime which would put our population under communist rule if they had the power to do so.  One day, maybe they will.  That's where tariffs become a tool to influence consumer behavior hopefully for the short term so that foreign nations can play fair or at least more fair than they were previously because the tariff raising the price on an imported good should influence consumer demand for that item and its domestic or other imported substitutes.  I know it's not realistic in a cold turkey type of move and probably not realistic when our elected officials are literally and figuratively in bed with them, but I think we should aspire to not do business with communist regimes like China.  At the very least, not ones using artificially cheap labor.

That's one example of when tariffs should be considered, but the broader one is our economy is the envy of the world. Everyone that mass produces a product wants to sell here. We should absolutely wield the power of tariffs when need be to get nations to do something we want before we allow their products to compete fairly and freely within our economy.

---