Modern American multinational corporations may not be loveable, and few of them do much to earn the support of American patriots, but they are ours. The mass of their employees are our fellow citizens. Just as we are supposed to prefer our families to strangers, we should, out of common decency, prefer our fellow Americans to outsiders.

This might be the secret to Trump’s appeal. If an ideological drive against “corporate welfare” is more important to conservatives than supporting American business against foreign competition, why should Americans look to conservatives for leadership ? If conservatives or libertarian conservatives act as though they don’t care whether American firms win, then Americans will turn to people who do at least claim to care.

Sure, we all know that big business, and sometimes small business as well, is not a reliable friend of free markets. Resisting businesses’ drive to build cartels and regulate their competition out of existence is and should be part of what makes an American conservative an American conservative. At some point, though, conservatives should consider moderating their free-market purity and stand up for our nation, our people, and, yes, even for our corporations.

America – f**k, yeah!!!