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They got tired of nonsensical progressive social policies and threw in their hat with a politician that wins, a lot. Pre-Trump the 2nd, it seemed to me that co
by balls187 2y ago
They got tired of nonsensical progressive social policies and threw in their hat with a politician that wins, a lot.
Pre-Trump the 2nd, it seemed to me that conservative view-points were being “shouted down.”
Anecdotally I recall even on HN conservative views weren’t looked too kindly.
Remember that Google engineer who had an odd-take about less qualified Googlers, and getting ostracized for it?
- johnnyanmac 2y agoI never particularly thought of "free trade" as a conservative policy. I thought it was fairly bipartisan that large corporations want to get the cheapest prices for stuff (which often is not within the US).
- balls187 2y agoAs far as I am aware, Free Trade was a clinton era policy, which sparked globalization. Yes it cost American industry jobs, but gave rise to a significant boom in non manufacturing jobs.
- verdverm 2y agoFree trade and globalization have been around a lot longer than most of us here have been alive, maybe all of is It has been a rising tide that lifts all boats on our blue marble
- cmrdporcupine 2y agoThe FTA was Reagan/Mulroney era policy. It was enacted by conservatives on both sides of the border, and the liberals on both sides "opposed" it (and then had a religious conversion once they took power again, and supported its successor, NAFTA). The 88 election debate in Canada is famous for the confrontations around this topic. I was in my early teens it was the first election debate I remember watching and having strong opinions about.
- rsynnott 2y ago"Free trade", as a named policy position, goes back to the 19th century, though as a _thing_ it's somewhat older. In particular it was a major political controversy in the UK for most of the 19th century.
- bluGill 2y agoClinton wasn't able to get a significant number of his own party to vote for it while significant numbers of republicans supported it. At the time free trade was a rebuplican talking point and many democrats opposed it.
- andelink 2y agoBecause NAFTA is the brainchild of Reagan. Bush Sr worked out most of the policy with CA/MX. Finally, Clinton signed it into law, with little influence on the policies overall.
- bluGill 2y agoClinton pushed congress to pass it. He may not have had influence to the content (this is false - he added two amendments and had opportunity to restart talks on anything he cared about, though he may have decided some things were not worth bothering with it was still his choice) but he used his influence to get it passed in congress. It was his right to refuse to send it to congress.