> > Trade organizations and governing bodies are necessary because of our > unwillingness to trade freely. For example the softwood lumber dispute > with Canada. If we would stop being hypocritical about the trade issue, > then we would have free trade and the governing bodies and arbitration > groups would disappear because they simply wouldn't be needed. > > Free trade has always meant whatever we want it to mean. This is a > problem and it sounds like Ron Paul would make it much much worse. >
Why do you continue to make strawman arguments about Ron's position? Maybe we're not articulating it well, but Ron is for FREE TRADE, LOW or NO TARIFFS. His rejection of international trade organizations is that they usually result in managed trade and force the US to give up sovereignty and adopt laws and practices that are detrimental. Again, RON IS NOT A PROTECTIONIST. He's spoken out numerous times against protectionism and the psuedo-free-trade agreements that are effectively managed trade. "We don't need government agreements to have free trade. We merely need to lower or eliminate taxes on the American people, without regard to what other nations do. Remember, tariffs are simply taxes on consumers. Americans have always bought goods from abroad; the only question is how much our government taxes us for doing so. As economist Henry Hazlitt explained, tariffs simply protect politically-favored special interests at the expense of consumers, while lowering wages across the economy as a whole. Hazlitt, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, and countless other economists have demolished every fallacy concerning tariffs, proving conclusively that unilateral elimination of tariffs benefits the American people. We don't need CAFTA or any other international agreement to reap the economic benefits promised by CAFTA supporters, we only need to change our own harmful economic and tax policies. Let the rest of the world hurt their citizens with tariffs; if we simply reduce tariffs and taxes at home, we will attract capital and see our economy flourish." http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2005/tst060605.htm I don't care if you support or agree with Ron or not, but I won't stand by while his position is distorted. /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
