Despite solid efforts to rush the agenda, there apparently will be a few weeks yet before the Democrats and Republicans have selected their presidential candidates. At that point, it might be best to look away, at least if you’re an advocate of free trade.

The Michigan primary election on January 15 brought out a degree of big government “generosity” not usually associated with Republican candidates. They are the party that typically argues against the federal and state involvement in industrial policy. (Think of the metalcasting industry’s ongoing efforts to settle iron and steel MACT standards.)

But, Republicans were the only party with a real contest in that state so the guidelines apparently were suspended. The winner of the Republican primary, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, promised Wolverine voters that as president he’ll use federal authority to cut fuel mileage standards, ease automakers’ employee health-care obligations, and increase government investments in energy research, fuel technology, materials science, and automotive technology. Even good ideas ought to be studied for their collateral effects, it would seem.

Apparently, though, it worked well enough to win the election.  So, predictably, as I write the Republican candidates are in South Carolina promising new job security to textile workers.  

This sales pitch actually was honed in Iowa, where employment levels are not nearly as high (3.9%) as in Michigan (7.6%), but the actual circumstances at this point are immaterial to one certainty: Americans have been persuaded that they are personally on the brink of economic collapse.

For this, credit rising food and fuel costs; employers’ ceaseless push for higher worker productivity; rancorous debates about undocumented workers stealing job opportunities; and, not the least of these, a steady stream of dire reports and commentary about the threat of foreign competition wiping out U.S. economic sovereignty.

And so, this week Michigan voters — who in the wake of last month’s energy bill, with its renewal of CAFÉ standards that some auto industry executives predict will add $6,000 on average to the price of a domestic vehicle — have shown a willingness to accept more federal involvement in the industry that drives their economy.

This election season, Americans seem to be in a mood to have their anxieties soothed, at any price. They may be willing to take such comfort, but manufacturers ought to be more hesitant.