A Subversion of American Democracy? White House & Democratic Leadership Agree On Secret Trade Deal

[babylonsister]

Segment on Democracy Now! today:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/22/1412233

A Subversion of American Democracy? White House & Democratic Leadership Agree On Secret Trade Deal

Rick MacArthur, publisher of Harper's Magazine, and author of the book "The Selling of “Free Trade: NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy," discusses what's been happening behind closed doors on Capitol Hill and why many environmentalists, AIDS activists, American labor unions, and social movements in Latin America oppose the deal

It was an unexpected announcement from Washington -- and one many are still trying to figure out. Earlier this month, the White House and Democratic leaders announced they had reached a historic agreement on trade.

It's the first bi-partisan economic agreement since Democrats took control of Congress this year. Democrats say they”ve won guarantees to protect labor rights and environmental standards in all future trade deals, starting with Peru, Panama, Columbia and South Korea. Labor rights would include union organizing, collective bargaining and bans on child labor and workplace discrimination. On the environment, countries trading with the U.S. would be forced to comply with existing laws and international accords.

But critics say Democratic leaders have fallen far short of what they claim. The negotiations were conducted in near secrecy, and the details haven't been fully disclosed. Criticism has come from many circles -- environmentalists, AIDS activists, American labor unions, and social movements in countries including Colombia and Peru. Meanwhile, groups representing major U.S. corporations have supported the plan. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation. Chamber president Tom Donohue said: "We are encouraged by assurances that the labor provisions cannot be read to require compliance with Conventions."

Democrats are anything but united on the issue. Democratic caucus members are reportedly meeting today about the deal to avoid an internal split. That may be hard to overcome. As the agreement was announced, the New York Times reported at least half of Democratic Congressmembers were prepared to oppose it. In such a case, Democratic leaders would be forced to count on Republican support to pass final legislation.

As scrutiny grows, Rep. Charles Rangel, the Democratic chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, defended the deal in an interview Monday with CNN”s Lou Dobbs.

* Rep. Charles Rangel

That was Democratic Congressmember Charles Rangel. Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and lead negotiatior on the trade deal. I'm joined now by Rick MacArthur. He is publisher of Harper's Magazine, and author of the book "The Selling of “Free Trade”: NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy."

* John R. (Rick) MacArthur, publisher of Harpers Magazine and author of the book "The Selling of “Free Trade”: NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy."

[leftofthedial]

1. there is no such thing as American democracy

it has been steadily eroded by the ruling oligarchy, especially since WWII, culminating in the coup of 2000.

[DancingBear]

2. There is also no such thing as an opposition party

They both serve the same masters, and while this is indeed a bitter pill to swallow it is the first baby step in trying to stop the corruption that pretends to be democracy in action.

Many here are coming to the same conclusions, and while the true-believers still look for rainbows the rest of us keep getting wet.

Thankfully, though, we're slowly but surely beginning to come indoors.

[Rydz777]

4. And there is certainly no such thing as "free trade" as defined

by those who are pushing it. If a fraction of the Democratic Caucus pushes this through in alliance with the Republicans, it will be a terrible betrayal of American workers. Charlie Rangel has been great in his opposition to the war - he is absolutely wrong in joining the Bushites on this.

[leftofthedial]

5. "free trade" is a marketing brand

to enable the oligarchy to sell the masses on their return of the earth to a feudal system

no market ever has been or ever could be "free"--it's an oxymoron

[pampango]

8. If there are enforceable labor and environmental provisions in

this agreement, does it not "fair trade"? Are all trade agreements (I agree that the term "free trade" is PR term with no real meaning) with Third World countries inherently bad or is it possible to benefits from trade with these countries with the right provisions in an agreement? (Obviously, the provisions of these agreements need to be exposed to the light of day for us to know whether they are good or not.)

[leftofthedial]

10. not all trade agreements are inherently bad

just all the ones our government has entered into so far in my lifetime

controlled as they are my a cabal of capitalist oligarchs, they have no interest in "fair" or "responsible" trade. Quite the contrary their interest is in accruing maxiumum possible benefit to the few at the top of the capitalist shit pile.

the secrecy of this particular agreement is another matter, that of the destruction of our democracy by the capitalists.

[pampango]

12. So no trade agreement can be "fair", regardless of its specifics

since it will have been negotiated by cabal of capitalist oligarchs? If that is your belief, fair enough. It does make the protestations of some here that "fair" trade is a laudable and achievable goal, somewhat irrelevant.

[leftofthedial]

13. empirically, that seems to be the case.

fair trade can exist only when negotiated between two parties acting non-coercively and in good faith. Neither criterion applies to a capitalist.

[pampango]

14. Fair enough. n/t

[Double T]

3. Now we have half of the Democrats selling out the American workers........

'WE' should ALL be burning up the telephone lines to our Congressional Representatives in washington d.c. and let them know they will no longer be supported if they sell us out.

[frylock]

9. now?!

where have you been? The Dems, with the exception of a very few, have shown time and again that they don't give two shits about anything but their fat fucking coffers.

[Double T]

11. very sadly this is so true

[w4rma]

6. Untrustworthy slime. (nt)

[oldgrowth]

7. We need one action site with free faxes linked to all main sites !!!