Bush raised one lousy tariff on steel. You are getting a lot of mileage on this. A quick look at the list of other tariffs shows that this one on steel is one part of a very large tariff structure, with a byzantine structure almost as bad as the tax code. Take a gander at just the preface, and you might begin to get an inkling of the ratholes your tax money goes down. God knows how many billions are lost to our economy in just trying to figure out the rules, much less pay the tariffs.

Now, I sincerely doubt that every one of these tariffs is solely the result of Republicans kissing up to their constituents. Passing out goodies while simultaneously throwing a monkey wrench into the free market system has always been a bipartisan affair, and I'm sure the Party of the Poor has as many fingerprints on these Sales Taxes to the Poor as Republicans do.