A Liberal's Opinion: How to Take Back Our Country

The conservatives are using the slogan "Take back our country!" What does 'take back our country' mean? It doesn't refer to the difference between liberalism and conservatism because that difference is deeply buried in our roots and the conservatives claim we should get back to our roots. To me, the phrase "Take back our country" means take back our global status as leaders in every field. It means stop giving away our jobs. It means bring manufacturing centers back to the US. It means getting tough on nations that won't share their markets with us.

I have always contended that unfair trade practices are one of the major reasons our businesses are moving overseas. If trade practices were fair, there would be no profit gain by having manufacturing operations overseas and then importing the manufactured goods back into the US.

Until the conservatives and the liberals are willing to attack unfair trade practices with new regulations, we will continue on our path toward becoming a third world nation.

I think that our policies on global competition make us the target. We are allowing other nations to steal jobs and the industrial lead from the US. We are allowing the unfair trade practices to drive our middle class into poverty via lower wages.

If the conservatives are truly for the working class (which I still don't believe they are) then they will take strong measures to protect US jobs and allow wages for the middle class to rise instead of driving the middle class into poverty. However, there must be a mutual concern for both the workers and the business. The workers must act in the best interests of the business with regard to the global market and likewise, the business must act in the best interests of the workers.

One action our Congress can take is making laws similar to the laws concerning foreign auto industries. Another words, a certain percentage of all foreign business operations must take place in the US.

Here is another idea: Any business that moves it's manufacturing operations overseas should have an import fee applied to their imports into the United States. Another words, make it costly for those firms to send manufactured goods from another country back to their plants here in the US. If they want to move their operations overseas, they pay more for their US market. Furthermore, the import fee will be dropped if and only if that company moves a portion of it's manufacturing operations back into the US.

Now the conservatives who (in my opinion) don't care about middle class US citizens who lost their jobs will claim isolationism. It is not isolationism. It is doing what we should be doing. Putting our workers first. If conservatives want to give away jobs, let them give away their own jobs. We want to keep our jobs! Let the conservatives suffer the loss of jobs since they so adamantly oppose protecting US jobs.

I think conservatives unwittingly make us the suckers of the world giving away our world lead in every field. It's about time we took back our lead. If another nation won't open their markets to our products, we should stop being suckers and close US markets to their products. They claim the liberals are soft on terror. I say the conservatives are soft on regaining our global status of being the leader in every field: Engineering, manufacturing, science, etc.

While supporting their version of free trade, conservatives put on this phony campaign about creating jobs in the US. I think they have absolutely no interest in creating good paying jobs in the US. I think they are more interested in giving away our position as the number one nation in the world. I think they are more interested in giving US jobs to foreigners in other nations.

The conservatives like to hide behind the flag of patriotism. Patriotism is bringing back jobs and manufacturing centers to the US. Patriotism is fighting for the US workers. Patriotism is taking a stand against unfair trade practices. The meaning of patriotism does not change with each President. If patriotism was defined as supporting the war on terror policies of President Bush, then it also means supporting the war on terror policies of President Obama. If patriotism was defined as supporting the war efforts of President Bush, then it should also mean supporting the peace efforts of President Obama.
The liberals are patriots too.

All patriots, regardless of political affiliation, need not advertise their patriotism. Their patriotism is implicit in their actions and words.