One of the more distressing political trends of recent years is the ascent of the Lou Dobbs voter. If you want a highly favorable view of who the Lou Dobbs voter is, take a look at this article. I was astounded to turn on CNN during a trip two weeks ago and listen to Dobbs’ assault on immigration and globalization. I thought I was back in early 1930 listening to Sen. Smoot discuss the Smoot-Hawley tariffs.
My personal opinion is that the rising tide against globalization in the United States will hurt the Church and hurt its growth. On the economic front, it might drag us into another Depression.
If there is one thing on which almost all economists agree, it is that trade is a good thing for everybody. Take a look, for example, at this article. The New York Times editorial page, for example, dominated by liberals, is pro-free trade. So is the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, obviously conservative.
Free trade makes common sense as a win-win arrangement. The United States makes stuff that the Dominican Republic cannot make. The DR has some stuff the United States can’t profitably grow (such as sugar cane). We send cars and computers to the DR, they send us cheap sugar. Everybody wins.
The moment that a sugar grower in Florida says that Americans should only use Florida-grown sugar (which costs much more to grow than the DR variety), and the government steps in to enforce this with high tariffs, is the moment that U.S. consumers lose. And, by the way, so do tens of thousands of pitifully poor Dominicans. Getting in the way of free trade may make a few individual Americans (like Florida sugar growers) rich, but it is bad news for American consumers (who have to suffer higher prices for sugar) and bad news for the poor in developing nations.
The Smoot Hawley tariffs were widely recognized as deepening and worsening the Depression of the 1930s. Economic activity came to a virtual standstill. Congress is currently considering free trade pacts with Peru, Colombia and South Korea. The new protectionist wave, led by Lou Dobbs, is helping stall the approval of these free trade pacts. Such populist rhetoric is, I fear, about to usher in another period in U.S. history of rejection of free trade. Think I am exaggerating? Look at this poll of American attitudes toward trade. The United States has the lowest level of positive views toward trade of any nation on the list! Our nearest neighbors on this issue are Egypt and the Palestinians.
The issue of immigration has been discussed ad nauseum on these pages. I think there have been some positives with the renewed interest in border security. But it is fascinating to note that in one year most people have moved from “I have no problem with immigration, I just want it to be legal,” to “we have too many immigrants, they are changing the nature of the country.” This despite a huge increase in anti-illegal immigrant enforcement.
The 1930s were the last time the United States was possessed with anti-immigrant fever. In my opinion, the lack of the dynamism of new immigrants eager to open businesses and employ people deepened and worsened the Depression. Immigration helps economic growth — restrictions on the free movement of people slows economic growth. That’s just the way the world works.
From the perspective of the Church, it seems to me extremely clear that the Lord is using modern-day America as an engine to help spread the Gospel worldwide. The person who founded the Church in South Korea heard about the Gospel in the 1940s when he temporarily lived in the United States. He moved back to South Korea, and the Church has exploded there since. The same principle applies to Mexico, Central and South America, the Philippines and many European and African countries, where literally hundreds of thousands of people heard about the Gospel in the United States and took it back to their home countries.
The Lou Dobbs voter — ranting and raving about unfair trade and too much immigration — sees a “Fortress America” separated from a scary and hate-filled world. This is exactly the opposite message that the Gospel preaches, in my opinion. The Gospel sees us all as part of a human family. Yes, there are special things about America that should be honored, protected and promoted (I am not a multiculturalist, so don’t misunderstand my point). But one of the most special things about America is our melting pot history and our unique role as world leader. How can we lead if we follow Lou Dobbs into rejecting the rest of the world?