Look, I was always a free market guy. Back in those heady days, going to Libertarian Party Conventions, I was drinking the free market coolaid.
I still think that all other things being equal, free markets are better. I'm not AOC communist looking for government control of the economy. That's totally moronic to even go there. It's like you are trying to force me into one of only two extermes.
We are talking about tariffs here. A trade war. The US used to be in the position of China...a developing nation about to break out and take over the world economically speaking. Free trade was great for us then. No so much for England. Now, we are the old England, and China is the old US, economically speaking. Doesn't it make sense to you that free trade is great for China when they have cheap labor like they do?...especially when they are stealing our technology? Yes, I get the arguments that free markets are better in the long run. But, don't worry, the GOP and the Dems are spending us into oblivion, so how long can the long run really be???. We might as well keep jobs here as long as we can. And, I've already seen that the tariffs work in real life. You can make this personal if you want, but it isn't for me. I'm not thinking politically. I'm trying to make the best call for the country at the moment. Don't let it hurt your feelings. I mean, I don't get why it would, but you are taking this a little too personally, and trying to insult me back into my old free market ways. Maybe I will dice this brief flirtation with tariffs was a mistake. But, for now, it doesn't seem like such a bad idea.