Trump Detroit speech separates GOP wheat from chaff

Donald Trump’s speech before the Detroit Economic Club was an economic conservative tour de force and there is no longer any excuse for anyone who claims to be a believer in free enterprise and limited government to not support the GOP nominee.

Don’t like Obama’s pen and phone approach? Trump announced that he will rescind Obama’s Executive Orders, effectively wiping out his extra-Constitutional legacy. Hillary Clinton will expand the Constitution ripping pen and phone approach taking away power from the people’s representatives in Congress.

Concerned that having the highest corporate tax rate in the world is harming economic growth? Trump’s tax plan lowers this corporate tax rate encouraging investment in America rather than draining mid-sized and small business, which don’t have armies of accountants, of the profits needed to reinvest and grow their businesses. Hillary wants to raise the corporate tax rate making this a very simple choice.

Perhaps regulatory overreach is your bête noire? Trump’s speech made it clear that he will rip Obama’s job killing regulatory expansion out by the roots, curtailing the power grabs at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Departments of Labor, Interior and various agencies ranging from the IRS to the National Labor Relations Board to the Federal Communications Commission.  Freeing American business from just some of the trillions of dollars of economic costs attributed to Obama’s regulatory spree will be a boon for workers and will give hope to those who have either abandoned or never entered the workforce that they can prosper in 21^st century America.

Hillary, on the other hand, promises more of the regulatory onslaught that has played a role in making the last decade the worst in terms of economic growth since the Great Depression. Accepting Obama’s new normal of sub 3 percent annual growth is consigning America to a declining future and our young people to a world where the American dream is an Ozzie and Harriet illusion.

And if you are concerned about what you think Donald Trump’s trade policy will be, he made it clear that the goal is not to be isolated, but instead to negotiate better deals for America. Hillary Clinton on the other hand claims to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership while her confidante, Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia publicly assures Wall Street that once elected Hillary will once again support it.

Even after Trump’s triumphant economic address which hit all the touchstones of free market policy, with a direct contrast to Hillary Clinton, Senator Susan Collins announced that she will not vote for him largely because she thinks he is uncivil.

It is ironic that every six years, Senator Collins asks GOP conservatives to hold their noses and vote for her because she votes for a Republican for Senate Majority Leader, but in denouncing Trump for tone, she admits that lower taxes, growing the economy, rolling back the Obama regulatory machine and establishing a trade policy that helps Mainers from having their jobs offshored are not what is important to her.

The choice is stark. Trump’s economic vision is largely a conservative one designed to get the government out of the way and allow American business and workers to compete on a fair playing field in the world economy. Hillary’s economic policies continue the slide toward national insolvency, giving more power to D.C. and strip-mining the nation’s wealth to engorge the public employee unions who support her. Now, any GOP leader or consultant who still supports Hillary or continues playing the absurd #NeverTrump game can no longer claim that protecting free enterprise is a primary goal.

The author is president of Americans for Limited Government