Daily Archives: 3 March 2017

Who Should Control American Foreign Policy?

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One answer is indicated by the Trump administration’s de-emphasis of the World Trade Organization as the primary arbiter of our international trade policy.  A draft policy document, if the leak of it is a legitimate one, and if it’s being accurately described in the NLMSM might represent a promising start.

The Trump administration is developing a national trade policy that would seek to diminish the influence of the World Trade Organization in the US and champion American law as a way to take on trading partners it blames for unfair practices, according to a draft document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The policy…represents a dramatic departure from the Obama administration, which emphasized international economic rules and the authority of the WTO, a body that regulates trade and resolves disputes among its members.

A welcome departure it is, too.  The WTO, and other international organizations, have important roles in our foreign policy, but those roles have been badly overemphasized over the last too many years.  American foreign policy, American national policy, must be our national policy and no one else’s.

The Trump administration just has to be careful not to go too far in the other direction.

Equal or Not?

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Are Americans equal under law, or are we to be divided and categorized even further in order to apply even more special treatments to Government-favored special groups?  The Census Bureau is opting for the latter.

In a report suggesting changes to 2020 Census forms, the bureau called for adding a new “Middle Eastern or North African” category designed to count those in the US who identify as one of about 19 nationalities, including Iranian, Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian, and Israeli. Currently such people declare themselves as “white” on the surveys.

And

The Census Bureau also called for creating a new scheme that counts Hispanics as a broad category in line with races like white and black. The agency noted that research showed nearly half of Hispanic respondents hadn’t identified within any of the current federal race categories.

Which only points up the foolishness of the divisions.  But here’s the nub of the Census Bureau’s move:

Such changes are significant because they shape how the US tracks demographic change and can influence federal funding.

Can’t treat special groups specially until Government creates the groups, don’t you know.