I recently traveled with one of my friends and, unfortunately, he turned to politics as a discussion topic. I knew we had different political views so I had hoped we could avoid this topic on our trip but no such luck.
Our conversation confirmed my dissolution with our political system. My friend does absolutely no research of the issues and simply believes the sound bites he hears on TV. My friend believes in simple problems to a complex world.
As an example, one of his grandsons is looking for a high paying manufacturing job. His grandson is 19, has a high school education, and has no meaningful work experience. My friend was lamenting the lack of high paying jobs for people with a minimal education and no experience. He referenced a large, local employer whose employment is down substantially from its peak in the 1960s.
He said that this employer has "shipped all those jobs overseas." What's interesting is that I know a fair amount about this employer because they were a former client. Their production levels are actually higher than they were in the 1960s and they don't hire as many unskilled workers because of the use of robotics in their manufacturing process.
My friend further said that another problem is foreign workers producing goods at lower costs than US workers. He said we need to implement tariffs on all foreign produced goods. After a discussion of the effect of tariffs on international trade, US consumers, and the probable response of other countries to tariffs, he remained committed to protecting the salaries of US workers through the use of tariffs.
To summarize, I remain skeptical that we can find common ground among our political parties to fix our country's problems when people, like my friend, don't really think seriously about problems and propose quick fixes.
