Pat Buchanan and CAFTA

Pat Buchanan weighed in on CAFTA which now appears to be a reality.

"And the seductive song the White House is singing sounds familiar. It is the NAFTA theme song. CAFTA will ease the social pressures that have produced waves of illegal aliens. CAFTA will increase U.S. exports. CAFTA will not cost U.S. jobs. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

As a supporter of CAFTA as well as NAFTA I feel I should respond. First off CAFTA will not stop illegal immigration nor will it ease our trade deficit. It will encourage companies to move to Central America. I do agree with Buchanan on these points but I do not think it is bad.

People in Central America, South Asia, China and everywhere in the world need jobs. It is better for the US to encourage countries to intergrate their economies with the civilized world. CAFTA does that. It unites countries by providing similiar rule sets in which to trade. Outsourcing is fact of life, I hate to say it but you isolationists out there have lost! Globalization has united much of the world and is even soothing the savage beast that is China. The only way these 3rd world countries will ever rise out of poverty is through foriegn investment not through foriegn aid. It is better for everyone in the world if more people have jobs, wealth, and open and intergrated economies.

Free trade is not going to instantly drag people out of the sewer but America used to be the cheap labor capital. Workers were paid pennies and corporate giants got wealthy beynd their wildest dreams, (the money they made is still in their families Rockafellers)but slowly but surely workers began to organize and wages grew and our society is better for it.

I find it hilarious that there are people who love capitalism but hate foreign competition. All one has to do is observe China or India to see the benefits of free trade. China and India are much more stable and they are able to feed their societies without welfare from the US. I do not see the world economy as a zero sum game. Other countries can make money while we make money as well.

Next Buchanan resorts to tired scare tacticts:
"Henry Kissinger tipped the Trilateralists' hand in 1993 when he wrote that NAFTA was the "architecture of a new international system," a great "step forward toward the new world order."

People speak of or write of the New World Order as if it is some scary world government coming to enslave us all. I see it as a break from radicalism, a step towards universal human rights and a way towards world peace. The WTO, NATO and various regional orginizations are forms of this NWO. Countries that have economies intergrated with the rest of the world tend to have more rights for women, minorities, gays and basic civil rights. This happens because women, minorities contribute to the economy therefore they are needed. Once a country experiences a growing intergrated economy such as China an India they do not want to go back to their old ways. Countries with intergrated economies do not start wars (exept for us).

Like it or not free markets & free trade are the NEW WORLD ORDER!