Do they really?

Remember Bill Clinton in the '92 primary?  He talked quite thoroughly about his opposition to NAFTA and free trade in general.  What happened in his Presidency?  Need I say more?  This is going to be the same way with Obama and H. Clinton.
So why do I think that?  Take a look at who they have surrounded themselves with.  Clinton has/had Mark Penn who is an advocate of free trade and whose PR firm worked for the Columbian government to promote it.  Why would she appoint someone as her chief strategist if they disagreed with her over one of her campaign’s crucial issues?  It isn’t just Penn either, Clinton’s group has long been associated with free traders.

Obama’s senior advisor Austan Goolsbee went as far as telling the Canadian government that his candidates anti-NAFTA talk was just that – talk, or as he put it, “political rhetoric”.

So why would Obama and Clinton make a promise that they never intend to fully keep?  In the past only 10% of the population would vote in the primaries.  This 10% is comprised of the ideologues and they tend to be in the far wings of American political ideology – so far left and far right.  Anti-free trade is one of the far left’s cornerstone issues.  So to get out the vote (GOTV) the candidates appeal to this crowd and provide them with whatever they want to hear.  In the general election or in their presidency the candidate swings back to the center.  How can they do this?  Because the far left and far right are going to vote for the D and R candidate anyway so it doesn’t matter that they get burned on one or two issues.  What matters to them is that the scum from the other side of the spectrum isn’t in power. 

Deep down every credible economic advisor out there is going to advocate free trade – and imo the candidates know it to be true.  They want to make this country stronger and that means freer trade.

Most Americans are anti-free trade, but then again the vast majority of Americans don’t know much about government and economics.  For example – do you think America spends too much on foreign aid?  Most people think so.  When asked, again most, people think we spend 10 to 15% of our fed budget on foreign aid.  They feel that 3-5% is ideal.  Reality check: we spend less than 1% of the budget on foreign aid.  Read the piece about free trade – we’re gaining jobs, and higher paying jobs at that.

So then why are Americans so hopelessly uniformed?  You can pick from a list of excuses, like the media is horrible here, politicians lie and distort the truth (or ignore it completely), we don’t read enough relevant material, apathy, prejudices, etc.  I blame the media and wicked politicians.  Check out this piece by Cokie and Steve Roberts about how the media can distort free trade http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19369849&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=68562&rfi=6.

The problem with most of us is that we don’t save and we overspend which leads to us living unsustainable life styles.  The problem with most of us is that we are not responsible citizens because we are not informed enough.  Who here can name both of their state senators, their governor , and their house rep?  Who here knows how they vote?  Who here has a basic understanding of economics so that when they vote they know what they are getting into?

Politics, Policies… it translates into dollars.  More specifically your tax dollars.  Apathy and ignorance are not an excuse.  Don’t let politicians play you like Nero on his fiddle as our lifestyle goes up in flames.