Trade Deal, Democrats, Bush

May 10th a handful of Democrats announced approval of a trade deal with BushCo, the details of which are secret, except evidently from the Lobbyist's - you know, the official political party in power. The nations apparently involved are Panama, Peru, Korea, and Columbia which supposedly was to be excluded for its human rights violations and its government's linkage to right wing death squads, targeting among others, union organizers. Some of the happy noise comes from National Association of Manufacturers, the Financial Services Forum, Microsoft and the Emergency Committee on Trade and BushCo. Every time labor and actual small business has taken a hit from trade deals these have been amongst the cheerleaders.

There certainly are questions that can be asked, first and foremost, why the secrecy? There is exactly one reason to do things in secret - you don't want people to know what you're up to. Just exactly who is most affected by trade deals? The people who don't get to know what is going on. How is it that the BUSINESS lobby is so happy about secrets? Evidently because it's not secret if you're one of those who gets to profit and gets to 'do' the public. How is it the Democratic leadership is happy and unions and environmental groups don't know what's going on?

There are warning signs all over this "deal," first and most emphatic is that BushCo likes it, this says something clearly, the average American is going to get screwed and the wealthy elite and mega-corps will get a gift on the back of the average American. If the Lobbyist Party likes it real well, rather than tolerates it, the average Americans take it in the neck. Secrecy should scream "sell-out," there is no other good reason for it. The exclusion of those with an agenda other than the well-fare of the mega-corp and wealthy elite states clearly the agenda in operation.

There certainly are Democratic reps who won't sit still for this, but there is still in operation the pukes who'd sleep with the Republicans on something like this. The political sell-out of the ordinary citizen still goes on and this time the Dems are a part of it, like the bad old days before you had only Republicans to blame for it. Will the Left lay down on this? Why not, they've turned into the working person's worst enemy in the issue of amnesty and illegal hiring and the plutocrat's tool.

It is a truly strange time when an advocate of the worker gets lumped in with the Right wingnuts and the tools of the elite claim the badge "progressive." Ever hear of "Co-option?" It is the tool of the political elite which involves using non-germain issues to bring ordinary opponents into the fold in defiance of their own interests. If you have some idea that Ted K and Hillary are so worried about being nice to "illegals" you ignore the interests they serve and who donate large amounts to them. Crushing the economic interests of the American worker benefits just exactly whom? My liberal friends, you've become hopeless, "the man" has sucked you in and purchased your allegiance with cheap lying rhetoric and emotional propaganda. You've pretty much abrogated any legitimacy in this trade deal issue, so just keep quiet while you watch the sell-out. I won't.