America Didn’t Just Lose Its Industrial Base. We Gave It Away.

I have rarely approached a subject with as much anger as I have while conceiving and writing this blog.

Quite frankly, I am furious.

For decades, American politicians, both Republican and Democrat, presided over the dismantling of our industrial independence. They encouraged the movement of American manufacturing, jobs, technology, and critical supply chains overseas, all in the name of globalization, economic efficiency, and corporate profitability. They assured us that this was progress. Today, we find ourselves dependent on a nation that increasingly challenges our economic and military security.

And just when you think the situation couldn’t get any more troubling, we are confronted with the developing Nvidia controversy involving its CEO, Jensen Huang, and allegations of possible Chinese intelligence operations and the diversion of advanced American technology.

Let me be clear: allegations are not proof of guilt. Jensen Huang and Nvidia deserve due process, and the facts must be established. But that is precisely my point.

Washington needs to stop everything today and get to the bottom of this.

I don’t want another carefully worded press release, another congressional hearing designed for television, or another round of politicians pointing fingers across the aisle. I want an immediate, independent, bipartisan national security investigation. I want every relevant intelligence briefing, export approval, corporate representation, financial relationship, and potential transfer of sensitive technology examined. If American technology has been diverted to our principal strategic adversary, we need to know who permitted it, who knew about it, and who benefited.

There should be no political protection, corporate exemptions, or special treatment for anyone.

What makes this particularly infuriating is that we have been down this road before. We spent decades making decisions that weakened our industrial foundation, and now we are discovering just how consequential those decisions may have been.

I am not interested in hearing politicians lecture us about the Chinese threat while ignoring the policies, administrations, and corporate interests that helped create our vulnerability in the first place.

That anger is what prompted this blog, and I believe it is time we had an honest conversation about how we got here, who is responsible, and what it means for America’s future.


America Didn’t Just Lose Its Industrial Base. We Gave It Away.

America’s industrial decline was not simply an unfortunate consequence of globalization; it was the result of decades of decisions made by our own political and corporate leadership.

Beginning with Nixon and Kissinger’s opening to China in 1972, and accelerating through subsequent administrations, American trade policies and economic decisions encouraged businesses to move manufacturing, jobs, technology, and critical supply chains overseas in pursuit of cheaper labor and greater profits.

What began as a diplomatic opening eventually became an enormous economic transformation. We helped integrate China into the global economy, provided access to American markets, and encouraged the development of manufacturing relationships that would fundamentally change the American economy.

China eventually joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, during the Clinton administration, with bipartisan support for America’s permanent normal trade relations with China. The process continued under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

We effectively helped build the economic power of a nation that we now regard as our principal strategic adversary, while allowing ourselves to become dependent on foreign production for goods essential to our economy, national security, and everyday lives.

We didn’t just export products. We exported industrial expertise, manufacturing capacity, economic opportunity, and ultimately a measure of our national independence.

The uncomfortable truth is that America wasn’t simply outcompeted. Much of its industrial foundation was willingly surrendered by the very people entrusted with protecting its long-term interests.

And this wasn’t the failure of one president, one political party, or one administration. Nixon and Kissinger opened the diplomatic door, but the dramatic acceleration of economic integration came decades later, particularly with China’s entry into the WTO. Republican and Democratic administrations alike participated in a bipartisan, multidecade policy direction that helped bring us to where we are today.

Now, after decades of policies that helped create this economic dependency, we hear increasingly alarming talk about the possibility of war with China.

Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, has openly argued that America must be prepared for war with China. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated in May 2025 that the United States was preparing for war to deter it. In 2023, Republican Congressman Michael McCaul said he believed a prediction of a potential 2025 war with China was likely, although he hoped it would prove wrong.

These are not insignificant voices. They are people who hold, or have held, considerable influence over American foreign and national security policy.

I understand the arguments about deterrence, Taiwan, and China’s growing military capabilities. National security cannot be ignored, and avoiding war requires serious diplomacy and preparation.

But I find something profoundly troubling about the political establishment that helped preside over the erosion of America’s industrial independence now speaking about the possibility of a military confrontation with the very country that benefited enormously from those policies.

Before these politicians begin preparing another generation of Americans to potentially sacrifice their lives in a war, perhaps they should reflect on the decisions that helped bring us to this point.

They should be ashamed of the bipartisan policies that contributed to this predicament. They should be accountable for the consequences of their decisions, rather than simply presenting themselves as the people who will now protect us from the dangers they helped create.

This is not about assigning blame exclusively to Republicans or Democrats. It is about holding an entire political establishment accountable for decades of decisions that put corporate interests, short-term economic calculations, and political convenience ahead of America’s long-term industrial and national interests.

We should never forget what these politicians, on both sides of the aisle, did to this nation. Their decisions deserve to be remembered, examined, and judged by the generations who will live with the consequences.

A nation that cannot produce what it needs eventually becomes dependent on those who can. And a nation that becomes dependent on a potential adversary has compromised something fundamental to its independence.

America wasn’t simply outcompeted. Much of its industrial foundation was surrendered by its own leadership.

And we should never forget who made that possible.