There was honest debate, your side just happened to lose. Supply-side economics is a misnomer. Classical economics would be a much more accurate term. It is

There was honest debate, your side just happened to lose. Supply-side economics is a misnomer. Classical economics would be a much more accurate term. It is true that American workers cannot compete with lower costs overseas (though I think the lower costs have more to do with the fact that the US has more alternative means of employment and therefore higher wages). However this is no issue. As a friend of mine always likes to say, trade is like technology: you can think of other countries like a machine where you put in one kind of good (exports) and get back another (imports). So why would you want to impose a special tax on this machine? Economic theory suggests that to do so would be inefficient. The only valid reason for protectionism is strategic: e.g. having the ability to make things for yourself in case other countries cut off supply. The US is by far the world leader in military technology so I don't think this is an issue.