Well, it’s a start
Posted by jswain on May 4th, 2007Well, we wondered if we’d hear the “M” word during last night’s debate, and interestingly, we did hear a few things that made our ears perk up. Two of the candidates talked about the issues facing manufacturing. Their mentions were brief, but it’s definitely a start.
As expected, California Congressman Duncan Hunter was the first to bring up manufacturing, specifically talking about trade policy and taxes when asked what taxes he’d like to cut:
Hunter: “…you know, right now our manufacturers are getting killed. We’re seeing manufacturing move offshore because a dumb trade deal that we signed with the rest of the world allows all of our exports to be taxed twice while their exports to us are not taxed at all. The only way that we can even come close to leveling that playing field is to eliminate manufacturing taxes. So eliminate all taxes on Americans who will stay in the United States and make products and hire American workers.”
To the question of mistakes made by the Bush administration that he wouldn’t repeat, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee responded with what some would call a populist answer:
Huckabee: “The most important thing a president needs to do is to make it clear that we’re not going to continue to see jobs shipped overseas, jobs that are lost by American workers, many in their 50s who, for 20 and 30 years, have worked to make a company rich, and then watch as a CEO takes a $100 million bonus to jettison those American jobs somewhere else. And the worker not only loses his job, but he loses his pension. That’s criminal. It’s wrong. And if Republicans don’t stop it, we don’t deserve to win in 2008.”
And, then answering how he would be different from the current president, Hunter said:
Hunter: “You know, we won World War II, World War I and the Cold War with a major industrial base. We’re losing our industrial base through bad trade policy right now. China is cheating on trade. I would enforce trade laws. That’s something that the president is not doing.”
It’s going to be a long campaign, and we hope this is just the beginning of a productive discussion on the serious challenges facing American manufacturers and workers. Hopefully in upcoming debates we’ll hear more of the candidates talking about these issues, and they’ll be given more time to tell the American people what they plan to do to address them.
May 7th, 2007 at 2:46 am
…Hunter’s remarks are welcome. But we have to do better and break into the top tier of both the R and D candidates.
May 7th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
John - You’re definitely right. We’ve got to continue to beat the drum loudly. For our part, ManufactureThis is going to be taking steps to push these issues and call on the top tier candidates to tell us how they are going to address the challenges with manufacturing, job loss, trade and economic security for America’s workers.
May 9th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I was glad that Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) - a longtime conservative Republican voice for national sovereignty and economic patriotism - maid this an issue, in the debate!
He and Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) have the traditionalist, populist conservative position, on this vital issue.
Their position is shared by conservative organizations such as The American Cause, the Eagle Forum, and The Conservative Caucus.
If the Republicans had used this issue more effectively in 1992 and 1996, instead of agreeing with Bill Clinton, we may have been able to win the Presidency. Instead, the banner of fiscal conservatism and economic populism had to be carried by Ross Perot.