The Wall Street Journal‘s Collin Levy decries the autocratic-like spread of the image of Trump. A slice:
This sort of leader-worship is common among autocrats. In Cuba, Vietnam and China, images of Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong have long been present in government buildings, schools and private businesses. (Not to mention T-shirts and key chains for despot tourist kitsch.) In North Korea, citizens are expected to hang pictures of Kim Jong Un in their homes.
Sober observers of our democracy note that these mundane flights of Mr. Trump’s ego don’t rise to the level of consequential decisions on policy or foreign affairs. But they are assaults on the country’s character as a republic born from distrust of monarchical grandiosity.
Billy Binion explains that “Trump’s proposed $250 bill is everything the founders despised.” A slice:
America’s 250th is a celebration of the Founding, an experiment defined, at its core, by a rejection of monarchs and leader worship. It is why George Washington opposed the U.S. Mint putting his face on coinage—that sort of adulation was incompatible with what he was trying to build. He was not alone. As the plan was debated by the U.S. House, one early representative cautioned against “imitating the flattery and almost idolatrous practice of Monarchies with respect to the honor paid to their Kings, by impressing their images and names on their coins.” Lawmakers settled on the emblem of liberty instead.
It is hard to know if Washington et al. would be disappointed that U.S. currency has since evolved to feature past leaders who made significant contributions. But the law’s constraint—that they no longer be living—is in keeping with the reservations the first president expressed about indulgent reverence for the top office, and whoever is in it at any given time. America was leaving that nonsense behind. A $250 bill dedicated to the current president is the exact sort of egomaniacal vanity project the Founders detested.
Yes, Trump’s sanctions and blockade tactics have throttled the island’s economy, Cuban economist Mauricio de Miranda Parrondo conceded in a New York Times op-ed. “But Cuba’s economy was already on the brink of collapse,” he added. “What is happening in Cuba today is essentially the result of decades of structural economic failure under a rigid political system that has consistently resisted any reform.” And that resistance is buckling.
Ossified revolutionary slogans might sustain the Cuban regime’s comfortable apologists in the West, but they are packaged and retailed to a foreign audience.
Adam Millsap makes the case that the real revolutionaries are the defenders of classical liberalism.
Pay attention to Timothy Taylor.
J.D. Tuccille calls for a renewal of federalism.
Hardwood Federation tweets: (HT Scott Lincicome)
Tariffs have rippled through the US economy, trickling down to home renovation and decreased numbers of home ownership.
Lumber demand is down because of tariffs.
China recently implemented a “zero-tariff” policy for 53 countries in Africa. As Chinese and African citizens increasingly reap the mutual benefits of trade, America is losing out by heading in the opposite direction.
China imports mostly raw materials and resources from Africa — crude oil, copper, cobalt, agricultural products and unprocessed minerals. Removing import taxes mean that Chinese consumers will benefit from lower prices and Chinese companies will pay less for inputs into their own manufacturing.
Tax-free imports to China won’t alone help the continent move up the value chain, but they provide African nations with much-needed hard currency. The young continent also benefits from imports of higher value manufactured goods that improve lives.
