BREAKING NEWS: GOP supports global trade!

In a shocking turn of events, Republicans are willing to buy from and sell to the global markets. News at 11.

I was reading an article over at Salon.com about the GOP buying t-shirts made in Honduras. They were basically taking the Democratic Party line and making fun of the GOP for buying non-American products to use in a rather childish t-shirt-based prank/retort to an earlier (and equally childish) t-shirt-based attempt at sloganeering by the Democrats.

The Salon article goes as far as explicitly spelling out for us that, unlike the t-shirts the Democrats bought, the Republican t-shirts were foreign-made and *gasp* not made by union workers.

Who cares?

We live with a global economy. You can buy just about anything you want from a wide variety of different sources in different countries.

The Salon article suggests somehow that buying t-shirts that aren’t American made is anti-American. They’re not saying so explicitly, but that’s exactly what they’re saying. This is nothing less than petty-minded economic protectionism, and disturbingly similar to faux-patriotism type arguments trotted out by the GOP in a wide variety of other policy areas.

If I want a nice quality t-shirt to wear for a while, then I would absolutely buy an American-made (and *gasp* even union-made) brand.

But here’s the thing. If I was trying to pull some lame old prank like the Republicans were doing, I would sure as hell buy the cheapest t-shirts I could find. How that isn’t common sense to Mike Madden at Salon is beyond my understanding. If he’s simply a homer for the Democrats, then I get it. The hit-piece he wrote about the GOP t-shirts makes it look that way.

I get that the Democrats would point out this seeming faux pas, but it would actually only be a gaff if the Democrats didn’t buy American/union. The GOP isn’t bound by that same union-only, protectionist mentality. And, really, the Democrats aren’t either, but they want you to think they are. If you went over to the D-triple-C, for example, how much of their crap do you think you could find that was manufactured outside of the USA?

That’s the real question, i.e.: How hypocritical are the Democrats?

Are the Dems really claiming that they buy only American-made goods? I doubt it. They’re trying to make political points out of a non-issue. And Salon.com fell for the bait.

Usually, I like the Salon.com articles and opinion items. They’re often thought-provoking and well-written and researched. Better luck next time, I guess.

So, just remember, according to Salon.com, if you don’t by t-shirts made-in-the-USA, then you’re un-American. Someone call up Joe and the Committee.

(source)

Tags: fiscal responsibility, GOP, made in the usa, salon.com, sloganeering

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 8:16 am and is filed under politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment below, or trackback from your own site.