Pat Buchanan's Political Message

Pat Buchanan is a hard-line social conservative candidate for the U.S. presidency. Buchanan's campaign emphasizes a no-compromise stance on controversial issues such as abortion, illegal immigration, and protectionist trade barriers. Although fellow Republican candidate Bob Dole has clinched the party nomination for president, Buchanan placed a respectable third behind the well-financed campaign of Steve Forbes. The resiliency of support for Buchanan's rhetoric has raised concern among high-ranking Republicans, particularly in light of the approaching GOP Convention in San Diego, where Buchanan could exert a critical influence on the party's campaign platform.

Economic nationalism is the theme of Buchanan's bid for the presidency; his motto is "America first." Essentially, Buchanan advocates returning to the types of economic policies that existed before World War II. He believes that Americans should tax or discourage foreign imports by reconstructing tariff barriers.

For instance, Buchanan has proposed a 10 percent tariff on Japanese imports and a 20 percent tariff on Chinese imports. Tariffs would punish these and other "economically aggressive" countries for dumping their products in the United States and would discourage them from engaging in these practices in the future. Buchanan reasons that the money generated from such tariffs would amount to over $20 billion annually. This revenue could be used to eliminate taxes on small businesses, thus further stimul

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business is creating the jobs that replace those being lost by corporate downsizing; since small business would be the most adversely affected by increasing the minimum wage, it would be counterproductive to do so. Buchanan's 1996 presidential campaign has had a profound effect on the Republican party. As in his presidential bid in 1992, Buchanan felt compelled to run on principle. His mission, he states is a "battle for the soul of the Republican Party" (Cooper 25). Although Buchanan was never a significant threat to frontrunner Bob Dole for the Republican nomination, this fact did not deter Buchanan from continuing on the campaign trail. His ultimate goal is to "win" the G.O.P. convention in San Diego this August, "We wrote the platform last time . . . It's going to be our Convention" (Blumenthal 38). Indeed, Buchanan did set the tone for the 1992 Convention, with his opening address that called for "religious war" and "cultural war." Given the prevailing climate of corporate downsizing in the United States, the issue of free trade will ensure a solid base of support for Buchanan's protectionist platform. According to one journalist, "Free trade is a class issue. The better-off like it . . . The worse-off see the job

Category: Government - P