What made both parties flip on this issue?

[kizzume]

In the 80's, everyone, especially conservatives, were always saying, "Buy American! Buy American!", almost to the point of looking like fanatics.

What specifically was it that made them all flip to the mindset of "Buy things, because cheap prices are part of living in a free market!"--and you just don't hear them saying "Buy American!" anymore because you really can't buy everything American anymore. Food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and airplanes. Yeay. Why is the idea of buying American-made products the LEAST important thing to them now? It's as if they don't want things to be made here anymore. Could this be true? I doubt it.

To me, this is the most significant position flip that the republicans AND the conservatives have made in the past 25 years. It's quite frankly a night and day difference in mindset. I don't get how some of these same people can claim that they like the Reagan years when those years were STILL all about BUYING AMERICAN.

Back in the 80's it was the LIBERALS who were the ones saying "What's the big deal if it's made in China?"

I guess I should be questioning the liberals on this too--they flipflopped on this radically as well.

In the 80's, the conservatives in their opinion about job outsourcing (which didn't have that term at that time) seemed like a bunch of extremists running around saying "the sky is falling", but now we have exactly the situation they had warned us about, and now they support it and the ones who were saying it's not a big deal are the ones saying, "We have to save our jobs! We have to cut back on job oursourcing! We have to buy American!"

[Locke]

In the 80's, everyone, especially conservatives, were always saying, "Buy American! Buy American!", almost to the point of looking like fanatics.

What specifically was it that made them all flip to the mindset of "Buy things, because cheap prices are part of living in a free market!"--and you just don't hear them saying "Buy American!" anymore because you really can't buy everything American anymore. Food, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and airplanes. Yeay. Why is the idea of buying American-made products the LEAST important thing to them now? It's as if they don't want things to be made here anymore. Could this be true? I doubt it.

To me, this is the most significant position flip that the republicans AND the conservatives have made in the past 25 years. It's quite frankly a night and day difference in mindset. I don't get how some of these same people can claim that they like the Reagan years when those years were STILL all about BUYING AMERICAN.

Back in the 80's it was the LIBERALS who were the ones saying "What's the big deal if it's made in China?"

I guess I should be questioning the liberals on this too--they flipflopped on this radically as well.

In the 80's, the conservatives in their opinion about job outsourcing (which didn't have that term at that time) seemed like a bunch of extremists running around saying "the sky is falling", but now we have exactly the situation they had warned us about, and now they support it and the ones who were saying it's not a big deal are the ones saying, "We have to save our jobs! We have to cut back on job oursourcing! We have to buy American!"

It's entirely their fault, if they have such qualms with it. The free market, which, aside from the rhetoric here mentioned, is historically a central tenet in the "American Dream", usually brings about such things. Inefficiency doesn't survive.

[Andy764383]

Politician will say whatever the moment calls for. And...

the "Buy American" theme didn't work anyway. People buy whatever is cheapest. The whole "enlightened self interest" thing. At least in the short term.

Sad really. Eventually we'll all be working for $7 an hour.

[Libslayer]

IN my opinion... its the unions in America that disgust me the most....
The ones that drive up the cost of everything made in America in an unreasonable manner.
They drive up the cost of many items so high...that they cannot compete with cheaper goods from other nations...
That may or may not be the fault of the union bosses and goons....
but it makes me pause before I purchase....
Cost is the bottom line.
Thus many goods are imported rather then made here.
Unions simply cant compete with cheaper goods made in other nations.

[Cattraknoff]

IN my opinion... its the unions in America that disgust me the most....
The ones that drive up the cost of everything made in America in an unreasonable manner.
They drive up the cost of many items so high...that they cannot compete with cheaper goods from other nations...
That may or may not be the fault of the union bosses and goons....
but it makes me pause before I purchase....
Cost is the bottom line.
Thus many goods are imported rather then made here.
Unions simply cant compete with cheaper goods made in other nations.

There are enough well-paying jobs in the west. There is a good chance that most of these wouldn't exist without unions (in pay at least), and it is a certainty there would be little to nothing in the way of social services. Trade unions are about more than prices, they're about the people having the right to resist corrupt governmental and corporate practices.

It is important to note that the US is still the #1 producer of goods & services in the world. By a wide margin. You really don't need any more, and your economy wouldn't be doing so badly if your oligarchs didn't want it to.

[Gwendl]

Because these days we make very little in America and politicians aren't going to go up against corporations that make most of their money from items made overseas. After all, it's these same corporations that are keeping these guys in fund raising. So there is no point in pushing "Buy American!" when they really don't care what you buy as long as their donors made good profits.

[kizzume]

And we can't be going all "protectionist" can we?

[tuscolablue]

We need to take care of our own county first. Call it protectionist if you will.