Thread: The Scramble for America

The Scramble for America
by Patrick J. Buchanan

What is it that distinguishes Bush Republicanism from the Coolidge, Taft, Eisenhower and Reagan varieties? Four major issues come to mind.

Bush is a "Big Government conservative" who repudiated the "government-is-the-problem" philosophy of Reagan. His No Child Left Behind program, doubling the size of the Department of Education, and his vast expansion of Medicare to cover prescription drugs so testify.

Second, Bush believes in Wilsonian interventionism, including the use of military force, to advance a "global democratic revolution" and "end tyranny on earth."

Third, Bush believes in open borders, amnesty and "a path to citizenship" for 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens, and smoothing the way for untold millions more to come and "do the work Americans will not do."

Fourth, Bush is a NAFTA-CAFTA man who believes in throwing America's doors open to goods from all over the world, regardless of the protectionist practices of our trade partners. To Bush, free trade is an article of faith and faithful observance its own reward.

For seven years now, consistent with these beliefs, Bush has crafted national policy to conform to his convictions. Thus, any verdict on the Bush presidency must also render judgment upon his philosophy.

With his own and his party's approval at the lowest levels since Watergate, one may conclude then that America is not only rejecting Bush the man and his record, but the philosophy behind both.

This should be a matter of grave concern to a Republican Party that has lately embraced all four pillars of the Bush-Republican philosophy.

For consider the fruits.

Interventionism gave us Iraq, the worst strategic blunder in U.S. history. Big Government conservatism wiped out the surplus, fattened the federal bureaucracy and enlarged its share of GDP, and destroyed the Republican reputation as America's bastion of fiscal prudence.

The Bush immigration philosophy was repudiated by Middle America, which rose in righteous wrath against his amnesty plan and demanded he enforce the law and secure the border. Americans are unreconciled to the idea that the America they grew up in will be morphed into some mammoth multicultural Mall of Mankind.

Now, the returns have come in from the Bush policy of free-trade globalism. According to a lead story in The Wall Street Journal -- whose editorial page still champions Iraq, the Bush Doctrine, open borders, NAFTA-CAFTA and the WTO --- Republicans, by two to one, believe free trade has done more harm than good to America.

"With voters provoked for years by such figures as Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot," writes the Journal's John Harwood, citing Romney adviser and former Rep. Vin Weber, "there's been a steady erosion in Republican support for free trade."

While one appreciates Harwood's compliment, it is undeserved. What killed the free-trade consensus in the GOP was not provocateurs, but proven failure.

Since 2002, America has run five consecutive world record trade deficits. Three million manufacturing jobs have disappeared. The euro has almost doubled in value against the dollar. The Canadian dollar has reached parity. Plants have been shutting down across this country for years. The wages of Middle Americans have stagnated. The trade deficit with China last year reached $233 billion, a world record between any two nations.

Where Alexander Hamilton's economic patriotism, pursued by Washington, Madison, Clay, Jackson, Lincoln, McKinley, T.R. and Coolidge, created the greatest manufacturing power the world had ever seen, producing 42 percent of all of the world's goods when Silent Cal went home, America's industrial plant has been ravaged by free trade.

And we are only beginning to see the damage done by the "trade-deficits-don't-matter!" Republicans.

The trade deficits America has run up in recent decades have helped give rival nations $5 trillion in cash reserves. They have now begun to transfer this enormous cash hoard into sovereign wealth funds -- to buy up America.

China, with currency reserves estimated at $1.3 trillion, used petty cash -- one-fourth of 1 percent of its cash pile in May -- to buy a 10 percent interest in Blackstone, America's second largest private equity firm.

Huawei Technologies, a firm linked to the Chinese military, now seeks a merger with 3Com, a company that provides the Pentagon and U.S. Army with intrusion detection equipment to keep hackers out. In July, Chinese military hackers were discovered trying to break into a computer system close to Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Treasury should veto Huawei's bid, even if Goldman Sachs, which claims one alumnus as treasury secretary and another as White House chief of staff, has been greasing the deal.
Yet this is not the end -- this is only the first of the foreign raids on vital U.S. assets.

At the 1884 Congress of Berlin that carved up the continent, "The Scramble for Africa" began. The Scramble for America, thanks to our trillions in borrowing to finance consumption of foreign goods, is about to begin. Because of the free-trade folly of this generation, foreigners, not all of them friendly, are about to buy up our inheritance. They are about to buy up America.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php? ... &page=1#c1


Reader Comments: (103)

Here are the comments submitted by Human Events readers: Page 1

America never had such a blatant attempt to wipe out its middle class entirely such as Bush and Company.

The Republcan Party is going to disappear and we will be stuck with Socialism from the Democrats. Joe Fedup, Danville, ILOct 09, 2007 @ 09:54 AM
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Common sense...there's no such thing as a free lunch...we were always going to have to pay back all that foreign money we borrowed to buy foreign goods...we're just now starting to get the bill. Well done Mr. Buchanan.sanity, virginiaOct 09, 2007 @ 10:00 AM
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Bush should be impeached for allowing the invasion by Mexico if nothing else. He is but the tip of the iceberg. The corporate elite and their politico-slaves are not interested in the welfare of America. Time to start over. Carpe diem. Cato, the RepublicOct 09, 2007 @ 10:19 AM
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I'm coming around to Buchanan's way of thinking and feeling. I've voted for McGovern, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Perot, Nader (as a protest, in Texas) --and now, probably, Who Knows?!!! September 11, 2001 taught me this: We are not the angels we like to think we are. We have been cynical opportunists and greedy softies. Hooked on luxuries. We need to read Thucydides and Pat Buchanan even while listening to the wisdom of our Holy Father, Benedict. Pat Buchanan for President! (By the way, one huge mistake was the creation of the State of Israel--soon they, and we, will be doomed, unless we all, as a world working together, wise up.) Horizon, Irving, TXOct 09, 2007 @ 10:41 AM
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Ahmadenijad's emphasis upon our lack of "purity" gives him some common ground with our Holy Father who, in a gentle and loving way, teaches the same thing. Our Holy Father went so far as to criticize the "filth" of some of his own, our own, priests. This lack of purity trickles down, corrupts and softens a people. True joy is lacking in the West. What we have in America and Europe is an "addiction" problem. (I know; I'm a recovering alcoholic since 1986, like our President.) Our Addiction Problem has consequences in Foreign Policy. Obama's suggestion to reduce our dependence on Mideast Oil is extremely useful! But it won't happen. That's why both we and Israel are probably doomed, perhaps sooner rather than later. Democracies are the worst forms of government--except for all the others. As Heidegger and Ahmadinejad have said: "Only a god can save us." Pat Buchanan--or Hillary!--for President!!!!! (Am I crazy, or what?) Actually, my favorite is without question Mike Huckabee, a true believer, a true patriot, and a true human being!!! Horizon, Irving, TXOct 09, 2007 @ 10:52 AM
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Pat’s article is essentially a draft of the obituary for the Republican Party. Unfortunately the obituary probably will be published in 2008 unless some miracle happens. The Democratic Party is on the same page hook line and sinker. We have been sold out on the auction block of globalization. The multi national corporations love the festival of greed that has been created for them. Both of our major political parties have been purchased by the multi national firms and their lobbyists and have little interest in the folks.

The sad truth is the United States is on a step path of decline and our politicians don’t give a damn as they are getting theirs. The only way things will change is with a people’s third party and that is not likely to happen. We are where the United Kingdom was in 1946. Our Imperial ambitions are taking us down the same path of decline.
US FLYER, PHOENIX, ARIZONAOct 09, 2007 @ 10:54 AM
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The greatest threat to conservative principles isn't liberalsism or the Democratic Party. I think the greatest threat comes from two camps: the neocons, with their naive idealism and unrepentant hubris; and the shallow, meanspirited, anything-for-ratings caricature of conservatism being peddled by talk radio and cable news.

I'll be damned if George Bush is a conservative! Why a man like Bill Buckley would climb into bed with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, or why any principled conservative could consider Bush anything but a traitor the the cause, is beyond me.

Kudos to Pat (again)--he's right on target, which, these days, makes him a target for both the left and the right.

http://www.newsprism.comThe Professor, Watkinsville, GAOct 09, 2007 @ 11:08 AM
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Buchanan's debate last night with Bob Reich got me thinking. You have to respect both men. But which man is right? The technicalities went way over my head. But Buchanan's grasp of history seems to be way better than that of the the former Secretary of Labor--under Clinton (who, for all his faults, disciplined our economy and grew it, confounding the "experts"). Anyhow, Reich repeatedy asked Buchanan to define...what? To define what he means by...What? From their individual perspectives, both thinkers or "thinkers" (no Heideggers or Ratzingers here) had the "authentic" passion of a Hannah Arendt. Which one was right about the issue of, say, Free Trade? Reich remarked that our economy is currently doing swimmingly, a remark that makes him a kind of Bush person. Buchanan predicts, like Spengler (see the recent "First Things") serious trouble down the road. Personally, I'd love to have the optimism of a Reich or a Clinton. (It might not be a bad thing if Hillary is elected, especially if she puts her husband on the road to refurbish our image in a realistic, not a naive, way; Clinton might win the Nobel Peace Prize by helping solve the ongoing Palestinian grievances, which, as Ahmadinejad pointed out correctly, are quite legitimate sources of ongoing pain if not genocide, as Jimmy Carter suggested.) But again, Who was right in this Intense and Extremely Intelligent Debate between Buchanan and Reich? Well, as Bill Marshner once remarked, "Those stupid Germans..." Am I crazy, or what? Gorbachev, in Dallas recently, predicts an upcoming World Crisis (as if any reader of the news could not tell)...There seems to be a method in the madness of Heidegger--and Ahmadinejad. The Persian Prophet sounds more each day like a Hebrew Prophet! He sounds even like Jesus, who came to "bring fire to the earth." Has anyone read the Bible lately? The recent "softening" of Bush's rhetoric shows that just perhaps--he has. We definitely should NOT attack Iran. Have we no decency at all? Have we no decency left? Horizon, Irving, TXOct 09, 2007 @ 11:18 AM
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I look at it this way, take the average, poor white or black male who is just about to graduate high school. Where is he going to go for work? You used to be able to work in a factory and make a decent living. Now those jobs are gone. We still have the older generations retirement money fueling the economy, and the baby boomers, but after that, there will be nothing -- just service jobs changing senior diapers. Not every person is going to go to college and get a degree in economics - we have to provide jobs for the uneducated workers who want to work, but don't do well academically. Nobody is talking about these people. And if they make decent money, they spend it.robert crayton, miami floridaOct 09, 2007 @ 11:43 AM
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Horizon -- kudos to your observation. Well put.robert c, miami floridaOct 09, 2007 @ 11:46 AM
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I agree with Mr. Buchanan on three of his four points regarding problems with the Bush administration: Big Government, Immigration and Free Trade. However I believe that Iraq had to be done, and will be done however ugly. The situation in Iran is coming down to doing something or doing nothing and the doing something options are narrowing down each day. I also remember the concern during the 1980s when the Japanese were buying up everything in the country including the Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach Golf Club. Nothing much came of that so maybe the Chinese thing will work itself out too, although it appears to be a much bigger problem at this time.Gary, Winston SalemOct 09, 2007 @ 11:48 AM
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Pat Buchanan is a practicing Catholic, I take it. I saw him perform in Dallas some fifteen years ago--after a very weak introduction by a certain Dr. Mel Bradford. I just assumed that Buchanan was a racist, like Bradford appeared to be. No longer. My respect for Buchanan, and also Bradford's legacy, has increased, not decreased. And it's all about the unfairness of the Palestinian Problem, an issue we have "addressed" by greedy bullying, illegal attacks, more-than-usual hypocrisy, sheer stupidity in Foreign Policy. Has anyone read or heard Dr. Michael Scheuer or "Anonymous"? (Pardon my spelling of this smart German name.) Why has the level of contribution to the Ron Paul campaign increased exponentially lately? Because a few folks can See the Truth when they Hear it! They attacked us, duh, because of our policies that they have felt utterly powerless to address by means of Dialogue (our pope, bless his heart, suggests more Dialogue). The former CIA agent, Dr. Michael, formerly "Anonymous," hits the nail on head. But his impact is not yet felt. We will feel the impact. We will, unless we change our immoral ways, feel the impact. The Psalms are partly about the people's patterns. Peoples act out these patterns in history, as we have seen. We individually act out these scenarios (pride, fall; pride, fall--true remorse; make amends...Recovery!). So, there's hope yet! Crazy. Something I've not yet said that needs to be said, but I can't remember what it is...oh, yes: We need to "walk a mile in the mocassins" of those who resort to suicide bombings. They and their leaders, especially, are living out...What? They are living out--our own ways of thinking (very high tech, very Nietzschean/Heideggerian--Truth lies in "authentic" action, i.e., Suicide Participation, Suicide Statements, Suicide, Suicide, Suicide. Suicide Politics. The terrorists have read their Heidegger; have read their Bible, rather Our Bible: Mohammed Atta read, I'd bet, both Nietzsche/Heidegger and our Bible, religiously, along with his Koran. Jesus says that he will vomit (think Sartre) the "lukewarm" out of his mouth. The Lukewarm, that is, America. And its "way of life" compared to the "true standards" of pure morals offered by Osama bin Laden and Company. If we could once solve the Israel/Palestinian issue satisfactorily, we could then begin to have a world in which an American President could courageously accept the offer to debate by an Ahmadinejad. Why, in fact, did not Bush accept this offer? Conventional Wisdom on this issue can go to hell. We are in different times now. We are in Biblical Times. The terrorists know this, and they are beating our brains out. We need to think, as Leo Strauss sugggested, not in conventional terms, but, when necessary, in Natural terms. In "common sense" terms. You talk to your enemies and you work something out, as Ambassador Peck and others have been suggesting! I love Charles Krauthammer, but I wonder what would happen if he and Bill Kristol were in charge....Peace? Or World War IV in its Final Consummation? Leo Strauss's Foregin Policy, I take it, is about "helping your friends and harming your enemies." Fine, but that's too conventional for Our Time. Speak softly and carry a big stick. Not, "wanted, Dead or Alive" and such Rawhide Rhetoric. Even Bush admitted he was wrong there. Get our best brains and hearts working together: Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, General Odomm, Jimmy Carter, Gorbachev, Putin (and what about that Conventional Wisdom that the Cold War was "over"); Mike Huckabee, Biden/Brownback, Jeb Bush, Ross Perot and yes, even Ralph Nader--especially this genius of Mideastern Descent. What this now reverted--once again--Catholic believes is that our enemies have discovered our secrets (authentity; "naturalness"; technology; genius;BOLDNESS--and are using these tactics against us. 9/11 is a page right out of Thucydides! You surprise your enemy! Horizon, Irving, TXOct 09, 2007 @ 11:54 AM
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All is not lost. Please consider:
http://thewayforward.us
Stan Lass, Ogden, IAOct 09, 2007 @ 12:14 PM
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Here's a doozie for you--a real half-truth. Actually, a _____lie! "They attacked us because they hate our Way of Life." Perhaps. But I'd bet the real catalyst was a perceived Act of War on our part against them. They are fighting back! They are just fighting back. From their point of view, it is indeed what Newt says it is: World War III. Ron Paul asks, with courageous Common Sense: How would we feel if they were Over Here? How would we feel? How would we feel if our children were bombarded with Cleavage day in and day out? We threaten their way of life--from which we might actually learn a few things--and they are fighting back, Bigtime. Atta was a truly heroic figure from their point of view. He used our Greek/Western "genius" against us. He succeeded. The cat is now out of the bag. Now I know, for instance, that we have backed illegal and immoral "settlements." When I was in grade school, I did not know a "Jew" from an "Egyptian." I heard not a word in my immediate or extended family of anti-semitism. For four years I dated a beautiful woman with whom I'm still a best friend--a beautiful, intelligent and decent woman of Jewish descent (her mom and her mom's mom, etc). I love Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, Richard Perle and John Mearsheimer. But there is now in my mind another book: The Palestinian Lobby. For all his faults, even evils, Ahmadinejad's speech at Columbia exposed us for what we are: arrogant, spoiled, soft, "politically correct and conventional" idiots. Mohammed Atta probably read that poem by Yeats about the lukewarmness of Modernity. About the lukewarmness of our "way of life" (spoiled, decadent, extravagantly wealthy, indecent, lacking in taste or culture, lacing in decent manners, etc). If only I could be like Mike Huckabee: courageous, tough, compassionate, smart, sensitive, decent--and musical, a sharp wit and sense of humor to boot. Principles. Morals. This is America at its best. A sense of fairness (too bad old Yassir Arafat did not accept that reasonable deal--but let's try again!).... Horizon, Irving, TXOct 09, 2007 @ 12:25 PM
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Amen, Pat B. Your voice of rebuke and warning to America's plutocrats (and a bewildered population) reminds me of the Old Testament prophets. Sadly, very few heeded those prophets, with tragic consequences. But, please, Pat, for the sake of God and country, keep on speaking the truth.HS, AlaskaOct 09, 2007 @ 12:36 PM
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What we have, is two guys in the whitehouse that are crazier than two sh*t house rats. They think only of themselves. They care nothing for the US, or the American people, just big money.J.D. Miller, Sherman, TexasOct 09, 2007 @ 12:52 PM
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The current cabal skulking about the White House and environs are neither Repulican or conservative. They are carpetbaggers and thieves on a scale never before seen in this country. At this point I'm not even sure if the damage done can be reversed.
It is almost to late for the Democrats to start impeachment hearings. I do however hope that GW,Cheney,Rumsfeld et al are invited to visit the Haig. Limric, Holly Hill FloridaOct 09, 2007 @ 12:54 PM
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The Republican Party has been hijacked, as has every conservative outlet in the country. Politically, we have no choice at the moment. Both Hillary and Rudy feed from the same six-pointed trough.

The same treasonous crowd clamors for free trade, open borders and intervention in the Middle East. What does any of their agenda have to do with keeping America strong?Nick, AlexandriaOct 09, 2007 @ 02:07 PM
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I don't see how any American can vote Dem or Rep in the next election, especially Rep, after being sold down the drain by this so called conservative Bush. Like the man said above, I'll be damned if George Bush is a conservative. The man ought to be brought before a court on a charge of squandering the wealth, of the American people and putting us in grave peril. Everybody says a third party doesn't have a chance, it's doesn't if you don't support it, this election is the most important one of our life time. Four more years of either the Dem's or Reps and you will have a superhighway the withe of the US, from Mexico to Canada. We will have no solvency, we will just be an open territory. We will also be in a war with Iran, that will probably happen before the election if Bush has anything to say about it. There is a lot of hard choices just ahead and if we don't make them now they just get a lot harder down the road. Vote them ALL OUT, LET'S START OVER. Third Party all the way. Well done Pat.Edward S, Jasper IndianaOct 09, 2007 @ 02:51 PM
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I can only conclude that the reason the GOP doesn't care is because they are, ultimately, run by the same interests that run the Democratic party. I see only Ron Paul as a viable answer.Scott C, AustinOct 09, 2007 @ 02:56 PM

Excellent article. Pat Buchanan is a great man.

I think so highly of him. Talk about HONESTY and INTEGRITY!!