As America's trade deficit grows so does our dependency on foreign powers. If America is to remain strong and free of foreign influence, America needs to reinstate the tariff on imports into this country. Our Founding Fathers considered the tariff to be the least intrusive form of taxation to be imposed on the American People. They also considered it an important policy to develop and maintain our nation's economic self-reliance, independence and sovereignty. That's why tariffs were the primary source of federal revenue for the first 100+ years of our nation's existence.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the U.S. was the world's leading export powerhouse. The Marshall plan helped provided the capital needed to rebuild Europe and Japan, and fueled a tremendous demand for U.S. exports. During this time the US had a surplus of about 1% of the Gross Domestic Product. The U.S. also benefited initially from strong export demand in a wide range of industries, from low-tech textiles and apparel to sophisticated aircraft and machine tools. The growth in the trade deficit over the past two decades has destroyed millions of high-wage, high skilled manufacturing jobs in the U.S., and pushed workers into other sectors where wages are lower, such as restaurants and health service industries. While the American worker got poorer corporations got richer. The U.S. has lost nearly 500,000 manufacturing jobs since March of 1998, and the numbers continues to rise dramatically each year. The impact of the rising trade deficit is far worse than expected. The vast majority (about three fourths) of our trade deficit in manufactured goods is caused by imbalanced trade flows with Asia.

The influx of imported goods to America is widely seen in companies such as Wal-Mart, where cheep goods are the company's usual marketed goods, derived from China, where sweat shop conditions are prevalent, through Wal-Mart and Chinese Government work houses.  Often time the worker's in these countries are paid nothing in wages, work in horrendous conditions and live in an environment that is not fit for any living being. The only people not benefiting from the removal of tariffs are the rich corporations and their CEO's. After all it would force them to pay fair wages in all countries, force then into a level playing field, and yes it would cut in on their vast profits.

Politicians repeatedly spout that free trade is a must that all Americans will benefit from a global market. I say Hogwash! Tell that to the millions of hard working American who have lost their jobs to third world countries, the few powerful families that actually run the entire world are slowly reaching their objective, and that is to bring America and her workers down to third world standards, and it is commonly known that a good form of control is to keep people poor. I believe that American people are finally waking up to the fact that NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, are trade agreements that did not work for the good of the American people. BUT worked for the corporations who repeatedly rape the workers of the world.

The next time you complain that American manufactured items that is if you can find any, cost more than items from lets say Mexico, China, stop and think… There is a person in America your neighbor or a relative of yours, or even you, who could of made that item, making that item at home in the States would have provided a good job for a family, in turn that family would spend their money locally, maybe even purchase something that you have manufactured. Causing a trickle down effect on our economy and keep our economy strong. Keeping America free of dependency to other nations who ever they might be. It would be paying into our Social Security system that all of us will benefit by, we could have affordable health care. So many good benefits that we used to have as Americans.

I am not saying that we cannot have trade with other countries, we need smart trade, equal trade not a trade deficient. America needs to be able to produce what is necessary for this country to be self-sufficient. America does not need to be dependent on any nation other than her self.

The prohibiting duties we lay on all articles of foreign manufacture which prudence requires us to establish at home, with the patriotic determination of every good citizen to use no foreign article which can be made within ourselves without regard to difference of price, secures us against a relapse into foreign dependency."

Thomas Jefferson to Jean Baptiste Say, 1815.
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your consul, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains set lightly upon you; and may posterity forget ye were our countrymen."

-- Samuel Adams