Amus de Wauchope

Instituting a tariff was one of the first acts of the American republic following the establishment of its new constitutional government. Originally set at 50 cents per ton for imported goods carried on foreign ships, and reduced to just 3 cents per ton for goods transported by American vessels, these tariffs were essential in providing critical revenue for the fledgling American republic. The rates were kept low enough to allow for the continued importation of finished European goods, which were still necessary for American markets. At the same time, they not only helped fund the federal government during a crucial period of nation-building but also served as a vital tool for encouraging the growth of American shipping and trade.

This successful implementation of a tariff regime is often brought up in conservative circles by those seeking to reduce government reliance on the current income tax system. However, the global economic environment is fundamentally different today than it was at the turn of the 1800s. For better or for worse, usually much worse, consecutive American governments have welcomed foreign manufactured goods with little to no tariffs in the name of free trade.

Starting in early-April, my hosting provider faced an extended outage which extended until last week of June.  Generally speaking, three months is a brand killing outage - both for the hosting provider and for their clients.  The hosting provider I use is a small business owned by a single individual, with a small team of support staff, and I hope he is able to recover and rebuild his brand.

While I moved my commercial endevours to a new provider, I am sticking with this one for my personal site because I want to support a small business which has struggled during the pandemic.  I have confidence this won't happen again, but I will take proactive steps to ensure a stable fall over if the need arises.

I am not particularly qualified nor am I particularly worthy to eulogize Queen Elizabeth II.  What I can say, however, is that the United States and the United Kingdom have had a special friendship since this country''s founding and as an American I am grateful the Queen kept this tradition in high regard throughout my lifetime.

As the people of England, the UK, and the greater commonwealth mourn, I mourn with them.

In a lengthy June 5th piece, Mike Dorning and Billy House of Bloomberg News express complete bewilderment that voters would continue to support the politicians who Bloomberg News claims perpetuated the January 6th capital riot.

In true ivory tower, blue check fashion, the two authors parrot the same tired lingo establishment journalists use over, and over, and over again. They claim the riot was an organized attack on the capital and that it was the worst attack on the capital since the War of 1812. They say it was an insurrection or that it was an assault on the seat of our government.

Frankly, they really ought to put down the thesaurus and get over themselves.

Ordinary Americans—the people cooking your food or spending each day in a deary office cubical—don't care about DC drama. At the end of the day, drama is what the January 6th riot has become. Every time the 6th is brought up, it's the same bunch of uptight, better than you elitists complaining that when the wrong people riot, it's a threat to American democracy. It has become so tiresome.

Our great nation has made many mistakes over its history.  Slavery was one of those mistakes.  The institution of slavery in the early United States was a great crime committed against many thousands of people.

It is okay to regret our ancestors allowed this crime to occur.  It is indisputable that slavery was an evil institution wherever and whenever it was practiced.  American slavery perpetuated the theft of African people from their homelands and intentionally separated African families.  Without naming every offense, it should suffice to say that early American slave owners willfully subjected their slaves to horrible conditions and incredible abuses.

Fortunately, it is unlikely the institution of slavery will ever again be officially recognized on the American continent.  As an aside, it may ease your conscience to remember the Northern states started to free the slaves within their borders well before our current constitution was written.

Just as we regret slavery, we can regret many other things throughout our country's history.  We can regret the United States's delayed entry into World War 2 - or we can regret the US even entered into the first World War.  We can regret the formation of laws and regulations which destroy economic mobility, or the laws which enabled social segregation.