America should strive toward self dependency

Rebuttals "1. As far as farming goes, I was trying to pass the idea that people could eat home grown oranges INSTEAD of bananas. I would encourage eating only domestic goods." Encourage all you like. You won't stop people from wanting bananas. It's ridiculous to think that people would stop eating bananas because of the false assumption that eating bananas hurts orange farmers here in America. The problem comes when you want to force it on other people, and take away their freedom of using their money on what they want. "2. I am not saying to stop exportation, just importation." When you say you want self-sufficiency, it means that you want to be able to have our economy based almost entirely on domestic trading. When companies in America depend on foreign trade to remain in profitable, America isn't self-sufficient. Also, when you put tariffs on imported goods, the other countries respond in return. This policy doesn't work in the real world, as I'll prove later. "3. Though inflation may occur, more people would have jobs brought in by the new industries and agriculture. I also believe that the inflation would be temporary, eventually the farmers will get new ways of producing the crops. The increase in the sophistication of these industries would cause deflation." You are basically taking it on faith that things will go back to normal in a fair amount of time, even as demand for more food goes up from population growth. The reality is America isn't a huge farmland. The world's arable land is much larger than just here. As a result, food will always be cheaper if the markets are open. This is especially important to help the hungry and starving. Another problem with this idea is it prevents innovation and competition. When you take away the huge competitive world market, you take away a driving force toward new technologies and innovation that would result from America competing with these other countries. Also, without the competition, people would not be able to relate our high priced products to anything else in the world. This hurts our economy greatly. "4. My China comment was this: We would continue exportation to China We would virtually cease all importation from China China would lose a major buyer and would start going out of business(analogy) Consider it taking out the competion, legally" When you put an embargo on a country, they don't take it lightly. In reality, China would not continue being a trading partner with us if we decided to try to destroy their economy. All the progress we've made in having good relations with China for the past few decades would be reversed. Taking out the competition hurts our economy too. "5. I am not even saying that the government should create jobs, I am just saying that the government should strongly tax imports. The government should also do a variety of other things to ENCOURAGE self dependency, like allowing the keystone pipeline. I am republican, not democrat. I am a supporter of Newt Gingrich's idea of independency." What you are trying to do is use the government's high tariffs to create domestic jobs by stopping competition, and making products more expensive. The keystone pipeline is something you are supposed to be fighting against, because it is trade with a foreign country (Canada)! This makes us more dependent on their resources in theory. Now would you consider this a bad thing? Of course not! The resources benefit us. I will get into Republican ideas in my arguments. "6. There will continue to be competion, not in the world market, just in the domestic." There will be competition, just much less of it. This doesn't mitigate the horrible effects it would have on the economy. "7. I would like to look at history for this point. In the late twenties and early thirties, the world went into a depression. Never before had that happened. The reason the entire world was affected was that trade was high. With self dependency, if China fell for some reason and went into a poor economic state, America would barely feel it. Thus, it would localize depressions." Yes, the Great Depression was felt across the world because of free trade. An alternative of a world composed of self-sufficient independent countries would have had much less prosperous and less developed. Remember, protectionism causes an inefficient allocation of resources. This is inherently bad for any group of people. But the Great Depression is a perfect example of why your resolution does not work in the real world. "In the 1930s, many nations faced high unemployment, low production, and general economic misery. The United States was no exemption. In an effort to aid ailing American industries, Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff, the highest general tariff the United States had ever had. Supporters hoped high tariffs on imported goods would increase the demand for goods produced in the United States and thus help the country out of the Great Depression. The exact opposite occurred. Other nations retaliated with high tariffs on American goods. Demand fell, intensifying the depression."(1) This is just one example of the consequences that common citizens have faced when the government limited international trade. There are many more. Arguments Republicans and Free Trade: You bring up that you are a Republican, and support Republican policies. I also noticed on your account, that you think "Anything from Ronald Reagans mouth is golden and is my favorite." If this is true, then you are fighting against the very things he fought for under his presidency. The video above will explain his position on the issue. http://www.youtube.com... As a result, I think you should welcome international trade and competition, and accept that it is an important driving force for economic prosperity everywhere. Ronald Reagan was a Republican that recognized the fantastic benefits of such policies. His free trade philosophy allowed the American economy to grow tremendously. If you support what he did, then you support international trade. Conclusion Pro's sole arguments for a protectionist, isolationist economy have been for more employment and to fight China. I believe I have proven that these policies have the opposite effects on employment, and even worse effects on economic growth. I also believe I have shown that China is a necessary trading partner if we are to have a strong economy today. Purposefully making China an enemy through trading tariffs is one of the worst things we could do to our growing relations with that country and our own economy. Pro never responded to my points of individual liberty, increased competition and innovation from an international market, and dissemination of democratic values. I think these are all valid reasons to support free trade as well. In conclusion, America should strive toward greater trade with all countries, as it could only benefit our growth as a nation. Free trade is one of the founding principles of our country, and is one of the key philosophies for almost every successful country/empire in history. With the problems that we face today, it is important to ensure our policies make us as productive and as successful as possible. I hope I have shown anyone who reads this that individual freedom can make things better. Vote Con Sources: 1. Magleby, David, David O'Brien, and Paul Light. Government by the People. 22nd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. Print.