These are bold ideas, but remarkably useless ones. The call to end immigration appeals more to prejudice and fear than economics. It obscures the fact that many immigrants share the same economic troubles and concerns that affect working Americans. Although we should question the motivation behind these trade agreements, Buchanan's call for high tariffs and import substitution is foolish. The deceptively simple idea that by importing less, we will manufacture more has left a trail of ruined economies around the world.

Buchanan deserves commendation for thinking boldly and exploring solutions ignored by other politicians. But they are all too backward looking. They appeal to an inchoate resentment and confusion, rather than articulate a positive plan for the future. Buchanan, like many others, looks back to the postwar years when many Americans could live a comfortable and stable life with a unionized blue collar job. He is right to recognize that many of the benefits of this life have been lost and to search for solutions. But instead of trying to bring the backward sectors of the economy into the phenomenal growth that some have experienced, he tries to recreate the world of 30 years ago. Improved education, small business programs and vocational programs that pair young people with business are the sort of positive solutions that can restore the dignity and security many Americans have lost, without the politics of fear and resentment.

Buchanan thus creates a dilemma for those he claims to defend. His presence in the presidential election will cause other mainstream politicians to recognize this "forgotten" constituency. It may lead to newer and wiser policies to win their support. But there is also a danger that a Buchanan candidacy will lose the genuine concerns of blue-collar workers amidst his occasionally outrageous statements and ineffective proposals. Buchanan has said that "the economy is not the country; the country comes first." This is an interesting idea, and it merits debate. But a worthwhile debate can exist only without extremism and must be based on proposals which appeal to hope and openmindedness, rather than emotion and resentment.

Charles C. DeSimone '01 is a government concentrator in Dunster House.