Trump isn’t wrong, he’s just nuts

There really ought to be a discussion about many important issues that Trump has raised in his second presidency. The federal government is enormous, it does a lot of things and it was overdue for a pruning and hard discussion of what things it should be taking up. Times are changing and with the great diversity in our nation maybe more policy choices should be delegated back to the states where people are free to choose where they reside.

Likewise there is overwhelming evidence that the flood of cheap and often toxic things imported from other countries should be taxed and regulated in a greater fashion. Often other countries have low environmental and labor standards, many imported products are harmful for consumers. It’s not to say we shouldn’t trade but we may need to knock it down a notch from the extreme free trade we’ve been doing over the past 30 years.

There is more to life than cheap consumer goods and a strong economy. It would not be a bad thing for people to value their consumer goods more, paying more and using less. That’s inflationary only to the extent that people don’t choose alternatives. Higher prices not only help rebuild American industries but also will lead to greater valuing of forest and agricultural products. Right now timber is too cheap with the flood of imported timber, it discourages woodland owners and farms from managing their lands and encourages wasteful use of timber in home and building construction.

I also think we should move towards a much closer relationship with Canada. I don’t endorse Trump’s idea of taking over Canada, I do think we would benefit from even less tarrifs between the two countries, more harmonizing of public policy, and eliminating the border checkpoints. There is no reason why Americans shouldn’t be free to travel between the two countries, settle where they want, work and reside in which ever country they choose – just like Americans are free to move state to state. If you are an American or Canadian citizen, you should automatically have dual citizenship, of course noting you still have to follow the local country’s laws or risk punishment.

The problem with the policies under Trump is his ideas aren’t well developed or consistent, they’re based on knee jerk reactions rather than a thoughtful public policy. Sometimes you got to leap straight into the pool, as stake driving is powerful, and then adjust when you are in the water but it seems like he doesn’t have any consistency to any of his policies and much of the things he says about his actions are either bold faced lies or delusional thinking.