March 1, 20179 yr What do nationalists want? I thought this was an interesting piece from one of the more thoughtful conservative voices out there. I thought it raised some questions worthy of discussion, which will hopefully be a diversion from the usual sniping and gotchya games. I'll add a few questions of my own: At least part of the support for “strong borders” and restrictions on immigration is to maintain or restore a national identity. How should one define this identity? Free trade has long been associated with capitalism (from Smith and Ricardo to Keynes and Friedman), and, until recently, strongly advocated by the Republican Party. Why will a return to mercantilism or an evolution to protectionist “fair trade" be better? The politics of nationalism were responsible for untold bloodshed in Europe (and its colonies) from the seventeenth century until 1945 (with the breakup of Yugoslavia as an exception). Why won't a reversion to nationalism lead to more great power conflicts? Obviously, I'm a skeptic, but I'm curious to hear the other side of things. Since it's inception, the Republican Party has had a long tradition of isolation and protectionism. Lincoln, McKinley, even TDR promoted high tariffs to protect US industry. What Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt promoted, instead of lowering tariffs, was reciprocity. In this implementation, the US negotiated trading arrangements with individual countries that worked toward both country's interests. This anchored some countries, the Philippines for example, to the US. Some called the arrangements "Fair Trade" agreements.
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