Bozos in Congress
A Member of Congress once told me that there are three types of people in the U.S. Congress. He said that about a third of the Congress is made up of true statesmen who have the national interest at heart. Another third are absolute and total crooks. And the last third are complete Bozos who don’t know what is going on. He said he would far rather work with the first two because there is at least some intelligent conversation. I suspect the Bozo ratio is similar with parliaments and other legislative bodies across the globe.
Is He Your Congressman?
Now we have a chance to identify the Bozos in the U.S. Congress. Just take a look at the co-sponsors of the 2009 Trade Reform, Accountability, Development & Employment Act. TRADE Act. Cute! I have skimmed through the House version of the Act (H.R. 3012) and have difficulty finding a passage that is not total nonsense. In summary, the Act would require studies of virtually all of America’s past trade agreements with a view to re-opening each of those agreements to insert stiff requirements for labor protection, environmental protection, human rights protection (in fact, the entire “fair” trade agenda). I do not condone the practices of every country with whom the United States has a trade agreement, but I also reject the premise of this bill that the U.S. Congress has the extraterritorial right to legislate morality throughout the world, something that is totally beyond its power. The co-sponsors, however, seem to feel that they can force others to kowtow to their wishes by threatening to withhold the privilege of trading with the United States. I say “seem to feel” because I believe that the true aim of the bill is to protect the interests of American labor unions, regardless of the atrocious impact this bill would have on the U.S. economy. But read it for yourself. And also take a look at “fair” trade sites such as Citizens Trade Campaign to see how warped the trade debate has become in Washington.
One premise of the TRADE Act bill is especially laughable. It ignores the fact that the partners to our trade agreements must be willing to renegotiate them. Last I checked, negotiation requires at least two parties willing to talk and it’s not really a negotiation if you force them to the table. More like imperialism. Also, these are agreements that were negotiated in good faith and were, for the most part, ratified by past U.S. Congresses. But now we have Members of Congress and U.S. Senators who wish to tell the world that decisions by Congress cannot be trusted. Why would anyone wish to negotiate with the United States when they have every reason to assume that a future Congress will turn around whatever agreement is reached? They won’t, and the rest of the world will move on, merrily negotiating market-opening agreements that won’t apply to the United States.
