GOP bucks its history as it slams free trade

Trump and the new platform prove that nationalism and isolationism have replaced Christian conservatism in the party.

The Republican Party has long stood for free markets and the efficient deployment of capital, labor and natural resources.

Lowtaxes, minimal regulation, private enterprise and economic freedom are the foundations of the modern party. From President William Howard Taft’ s battle to end trade tariffs in 1909 to Ronald Reagan’s call for a North American Free Trade Agreement, Republican presidents have expanded commerce to forge new alliances, a stronger economyand a more peaceful world.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, and the delegates attending the Republican National Convention last week, plan to take the party in a very different direction.

Trump’ s campaign has always rested on con tr ar ian views and a bold challenge to the status quo. But he’ s always been vague about his economic andtax policies, and this past week’s convention did not add much insight.

Superficially, though, the New York billionaire offers something for everyone. He’ s promised massive tax cuts and deficit reductions to conservatives, while defying them in pledging to maintain the status quo on Social Security and Medicare. He’s pledged to invest in roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure to put Americans back to work, which aligns him with liberal economist John Maynard Keynes, not the conservative teachings of Milton Friedman.

Funds for his “trillion-dollar rebuilding program” would come from increased tax revenues paid by an oil and gas industry no longer burdened by environmental regulations, hesays.

Trump’ s proposed tax cuts are three times bigger than the ones passed by President George W. Bush. Under a Trump administration, the top income tax rate would

drop from 39.6 percent to 25 percent, the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent andthe estate tax would go away. The rich est Americans would see their tax bill cut by17.5 percent, the average taxpayer would get a 7.1 percent cut. The non partisan Tax Policy Center reports it would reduce federal revenues by 20 percent, or more than $9.5 trillion over a decade.

Trump has suggested that he’d pay for those cuts by scrapping the free trade agreements Reagan advocated and reimposing the tariffs Taft fought so hard to eliminate.

“Our original Constitu-- ti on did not even have an income tax. Instead, it had tariffs, emphasizing taxation of foreign, not domestic, production,” Trump told a rally on June 27. “Yet today, 240 years after the revolution, we have turned things completely upside down.”

While it’s true that Congress used a new federal income tax to pay for cutting tariffs, the subsequent reduction in consumer prices made up for the new tax, which was then applied only to America’s wealthiest citizens. Reimposing tariffs would raise consumer prices. For example, Trump’ s proposed 45 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods would drive up the prices Americans pay for those goods 45 percent.

Far from creating jobs by shifting manufacturing back home, Trump’ s proposal would cost 3.5 million Americans their jobs making goods for export, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said .

Trump also supports readopting the Glass-Ste ag all Act, which requires banks to choose between holding deposits and engaging in investment banking. Republicans fought for decades to repeal the law in 1999.

This is a radical break with past Republican policies. Take it from the Wall Street Journal.

“For decades, the Republican Party bolted its economic platform to limited government, lower taxes and an abiding faith in free trade,” the newspaper wrote Tuesday .“Donald Trump has thrown much of that aside, deepening the party’s appeal to a subset of voters while raising questions about the GO P’ s long-term identity.”

The platform adopted by the Republican Party in Cleveland echo es many of Trump’s policies, including his hatred of favors for business.

“We will eliminate as many special interest provisions and loop holes as possible and curb corporate welfare,” the platform says.

Opposition to consumer protections passed after the Great Recession, such as Dodd-Frank, have become anarticle of faith among Republicans. The party also wants to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was created to stop predatory lending practices that hurt poor people.

The platform rejects current efforts to mitigate climate change and en visions the private sector finding solutions to environmental problems.

While there are throwbacks to past Republican platforms, including calls for fewer regulations and a balanced federal budget, the document includes radical ideas like more political control over the Federal Reserve.

Trump and the new platform prove that nationali sm and isolationism have replaced Christian conservatism inthe party. And while there are some probusiness elements to the current Republican Party, it is indisputably nolonger the“chamber of commerce” party that promoted free markets in years gone by.