Reuters is reporting today that President Bush and the Democratic Congress are very close to an agreement on free trade pacts with Peru, Colombia and Panama. What's striking is the language used by our government to persuade us to abandon our sovereignty.
Senator Carl Levin, Democratic Senator from Michigan, states:
"A foreign government could only challenge a labor practice that it believes gives the United States an unfair trade advantage."
He is talking about a US labor practice codified in US law.
What he is saying is that he agrees with the concept that a foreign government can challenge the laws of the United States. And of course, these free trade agreements always create international bodies that allow this to happen.
This is not a new concept for our government to be throwing us over a cliff in this fashion. Bill Clinton really got the ball rolling on this with NAFTA and GATT. An international body called the WTO (World Trade Organization) was created out of the GATT agreement. This is an organization that meets in secret and determines the validity of countries making claims on the unfairness of American laws.
Many blame Ronald Reagan for this WTO fiasco but the WTO was not part of the original intentions of his free trade administration. The WTO was created at the end of the GATT rounds. Its purpose is to provide a global executive branch that would judge a country's compliance with the rules, enforce the rules with sanctions, and provide the legislative capacity to expand the rules in the future.
That's the kind of guidance our legislators think we need over our Democracy in order to have "free trade" with other countries. Sounds like anything but free to me.
Carl Levin thinks it would be " hypocritical to include a safe harbor provision ensuring U.S. laws could not be challenged at all".
"A safe harbor sends the wrong message to what we're about," Levin said.
You know, I like the idea that the US is a "safe harbor" in this world. Carl Levin disagrees and unfortunately he has the power to change that.
Funny too, when you go to Carl Levin's web site, and look at his lengthy list of issues, he doesn't mention this one. I wonder why?
Carl Levin is a disgrace. But then again, he comes from the State of Unionigan (or is that Michiunion??) so what do you expect from a lot of folks who can't see beyond what they'll demand of customers and taxpayers for themselves next? Good job Rick. John
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