Bush spent the other day extolling free trade at a Harley factory in York, Pennsylvania. The gleaming, roaringly successful motorcycle manufacturer is an apparently popular spot for disconnected politicians seeking a good prop for their brave broadside against protectionism. That the factory itself only stands because of Ronald Reagan's tenfold increase in tariffs on foreign makes of heavy motorcycles goes oddly unmentioned.
Bonus Quiz Question: When St. Reagan the Conservative pushes a heterodox policy initiative, does the force of his personal holiness transubstantiate the program into ideological acceptability? Put more concretely, did St. Reagan's touch indeed turn a protectionist action into a gleaming example of free trade's success? Was there a doctrinal dispute over whether it's then sanctified into holy land for future conservatives or was that just assumed?
