I just saw Pat Buchanan on The EWTN (Catholic TV) news show explaining that if the government had slapped tariffs and trade barriers on everything years ago, everything would now be fine and all GM employees would be kings among men. “It’s this free trade globalism” that is ruining everything, says Pat. Host Raymond Arroyo, whose entire editorial repertoire consists of mock outrage at things said by left-wingers, nodded knowingly.

If conservative populism makes a comeback, we are all in for a lot more conservative-approved government and taxation in the name of “America First” and “protecting” middle-American jobs. I’ve long wondered when Pat was going to get on this hobby horse again.

My subscription has lapsed, but the last time I read something in The American Conservative about economics, I thought I was reading a copy of The Daily Worker. Buchanan is no longer the editor there, so maybe things have improved.

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