“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” Ephesians 4:28

By Riley J. Hood—Milwaukee County Constitution Party

My home town of Milwaukee, while known as “beer town” from the brewing of swill by Miller, Pabst, Schlitz and Blatz: was also known as “The machine shop of the World.” www.hmdb.org has an article about “The Machine Shop of the World Historical Marker.” They write, “In the early 1900s, Milwaukee was the 'Machine Shop of the World' and the Menomonee Valley was its engine.”

The valley” aka Pigsville, was named after the slaughterhouse smell from the, “Plankinton Packing, Albert Trostel leather, Pfister-Vogel Tannery, Allis Chalmers, Falk Corporation and Milwaukee Solvay Coke and Gas Co. Half of these were located in the Menomonee Valley but only one remains today.” That company is Falk. It would be better to have the industry here than a historical marker that we were once great. Today, Milwaukee is known for communism, crime, booze and drugs not much else.

Made in America means made with American resources, by American workers, at manufacturing facilities owned by Americans, located within our borders. Regarding the Christian Work Ethic: Training people, and having people produce a useful product while providing for their families is an important part of American Patriotism. While mining, agronomy and service sector jobs are respectable in every way, it is industrial manufacturing that provides the economic muscle that makes a nation strong. Why? Because manufacturing allows you to multiply your God-given resources by your God-given creativity. Wheat is made into flour and bread, copper is fashioned into copper tubing, copper wire, copper coins and copper pans. The applications could fill a library.

Unscrupulous people have been shipping American companies and American work overseas, for decades. These people are at heart un-American. Thomas Jefferson described their ilk, “The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.” Much of the manufacturing that is still here within our borders is foreign owned. Having the jobs here is fine, but the foreign ownership is not. If our American business owners are not patriotic citizens, then the Taiwanese at Fox-Con, or the Japanese at Honda won’t be, and the Chinese certainly won’t be. We affirm that the owners of business on American soil ought to be American citizens.

The Milwaukee County Constitution Party wants manufacturing brought back to Milwaukee. We see our fellow citizens and the American working man as more than bargaining chips for multinational corporations. We affirm there is no constitutional basis for foreign aid. It has won us no friends, and is a drain on our taxpayers. We object to firing American citizens and replacing them with aliens, or worse yet illegal aliens, who have an adverse impact on our economy, and lower the wages of American workers. We oppose the abuse of the H-1B and L-1 visas. We favor a moratorium on immigration to the United States, except in extreme cases until the availability of federal subsidies of foreigners and American unemployment is reduced to zero. Not just “black unemployment” or “minority unemployment,” which is reflective of affirmative action, but ALL unemployment.

Tariffs are a constitutional source of revenue and wisely administered, are an aid to preservation of the national economy. Since the 1934 Trade Agreements Act, the United States government has engaged in a free trade policy which has destroyed our industry. The libertarian policy of borderless anarchy has destroyed America’s economic self-sufficiency, impoverished American families, undermined American communities, and diminished America’s capacity for economic self-reliance, and the provision of national defense. The Constitution in Article I Section 8 states, “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” and “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;” Duties and imposts on imports are known as tariffs. Anyone who hates tariffs hates the Constitution, and hates America, and hates you.