This original blog by Jane Anne Morris was published on her website, DemocracyThemePar
Three Positives that the Democratish should follow up on.
- Nix the so-called “free trade” agreements.
- Push Single-Payer health care.
- Revise the voting system.
Later I’ll get to what everybody’s enjoying whining about. First the positives, if you can stand it.
NAFTA, GATT, CAFTA, TPAA & Their Kin
Trump has railed against these trade agreements, and vowed to renegotiate or end them.
First on the agenda is to ensure that he doesn’t renege on those campaign promises. But that’s just a start. They are agreements (as opposed to treaties) so that whoever is president can short-circuit the more onerous approval process that treaties are subject to. (See US Constitution). After inauguration, Trump can use the same expedited process to undo them as was used to pass them in the first place. (Thanks, Bill Clinton, for caving on NAFTA.) The task is too important to leave to whomever Trump selects to work on it. Organized public pressure should be brought to bear.
Over the last few decades, “free trade” has caused and exacerbated much of the deterioration of the US economy for most regular shlubs, and contributed mightily to the reconstruction of national economic demographics that resulted in more people at the tippy top, many fewer in the secure middling classes, and way more at the bottom. It never was only about labor unions.
Often unmentioned is that such agreements have also gutted structural protections and cultural safety nets for those outside of the US & think of Mexico for a nearby example. These agreements affect much more than jobs; elimination or drastic rewriting of them would speed the devolution of power from global and national elites to a more local, democratic, and diverse bunch of folks. MORE…