NAFTA sows discord on the right - North American Free Trade Agreement

"If you put Bush and Clinton in a bag, shook them up and dumped them out, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference -- which I find disconcerting," says Copulos. The only question left for voters is whether they want Republican or Democratic internationalists leading the way, he says.

This sort of rhetoric is "an attempt to be populist," says Courter. "It's anathema -- and in my mind, totally inconsistent -- to true conservative views and the conservative approach toward democratic capitalism." NAFTA opponents "may be playing to the crowd," he suggests.

Both sides can look to history for justification. For most of its history, the GOP was the party of tariffs and protectionism, while the Democrats from the time of Andrew Jackson until well into the 20th century were fervent free traders, says Jeffrey Bell, author of Populism and Elitism. If GOP protectionists can see continuity with Republicans of the past, they shouldn't claim the mantle of populism, cautions Bell. "Historically, the populist party was always the free trade party," both in the U.S. and Great Britain. "The populist position was to be for the consumers."

But Copulos says, "The simple fact is, we're in a very, very different world than we were just a few years ago. The U.S. is the last remaining superpower. We have many problems at home that we need to address which we kind of put on the back burner until such time as we settled the Cold War, which we've done. But now is the time to start looking inwards."

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