http://timblair.blogspot.com/?/2002_03_10_timblair_archive.html#10617171 Tim Blair asks why the anti-free-trade left isn't vigorously defending Bush's right to impose steel tariffs. Part of the answer, I think, is that the left is more interested in results than general principles; contrariwise, the right is more interested in general principles than results. Of course, results and principles both are important: so the left elevates measures designed to alleviate poverty, suffering, and so forth to the level of principles, whilst the right argues that policies derived from general principles--"all men are created equal," for example--also lead to better outcomes.
Tim Blair--who values consistency highly--can't understand why the left isn't interested in steel tariffs. But the left just don't value consistency to the extent that he does. The imposition of tariffs on steel won't affect the lives of those most in need, the left have decided--and since they weren't actually particularly interested in general principles in the first place, steel tariffs in the USA isn't something they care about.
(I'm still writing this...) 13:15
