Just beneath the surface of today's tempest over tariffs are tremendous troubles that are tearing at the fabric of our representative republic, threatening to rip it apart. First, let's face some facts about tariffs. To begin with, they are nothing new. Before 1913, when the 16th Amendment to our Constitution was ratified, which legalized the income tax, tariffs were our country’s chief source of income. Although Trump is being accused of starting a trade war with his reciprocal tariffs, we've been in a losing trade war over tariffs for decades. While other countries have taken unfair advantage of us with their high tariffs and unfair trade practices, both our friends and our foes, we've allowed them to do so by our ...