Pass CAFTA

Fire of Liberty

It's amazing how many people in both the Republican and Democrat party are so much against CAFTA and various other Free Trade agreements. I realize that they're whole heartedly against CAFTA because they think free trade will take the various manufacturing and farming industries that their constituents work in but they fail to realize that their solutions, namely tariffs, make it more possible that these industries will seek more affordable places to manufacture their goods. Take for instance the negative impact that tariffs on sugar coming into this country has had on the candy manufacturing industry. Under the current tariffs/subsidy policy, the prices of sugar is some 2 to 3 times higher than in the rest of the world thus causing the manufactures of Colas, Candy and other goods made of sugar to either pass on the price to the consumer or seek alternative sweetening sources. These tariffs have also resulted in large candy manufactures like Brach's and Kraft which have had factories in Chicago for well over eighty years, to pick up stakes and move into Canada where the price of sugar is much much lower. So instead of helping out these various industries this embrace of tariffs has cost jobs time and time again.

Along with industries moving out of the country so they can find more affordable raw materials these tariffs will also have negative impacts on our various goods being sold in these nations. With tariffs going as high as 30% on goods entering the nations of Central America, the people have sought out markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam because they can ill afford the American made goods or raw materials. So instead of sitting idly by while these nations continue to seek such affordable markets, Congress could kill to birds with one stone by passing CAFTA. First of all it would end or eliminate most (the jury's still out on the all-powerful sugar lobby) tariffs on US goods being exported into the nations of Central America thus allowing more people the ability to be able to buy affordable US goods, survices as well as raw materials while keeping the industries and farms in the US humming along. It would also eliminate duties and tariffs imposed on goods imported to the US from these nations thus creating conditions that spurs competition and efficiency in our industries.

Probably one of the biggest reasons why we should pass CAFTA is that it's yet one more measure to sure up our continued security and diplomatic cooperation with our peaceful and democratic allies in Central America. As Deroy Murdock has pointed out in his most recent piece over at National Review Online, CAFTA is a way to cause a rising economic tide that raises all boats thus ensuring confidence in free market capitalism and away from the ever present archaic Communism of Fidel Castro or the Caudilloist model being promoted by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. I think Murdoch noted the seriousness of this passing CAFTA with the following paragraphs:

"I consider CAFTA to be as much a security issue as it is an economic issue — for them and for us," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote in a June 11 Knight-Ridder newspaper column. "By approving CAFTA, the United States will bolster the advocates of freedom and openness in Latin America. Rejection of the agreement, conversely, could seriously undermine the forces of freedom and lead to an era of increased transnational security challenges."

"The signal that CAFTA's defeat would send is that the United States is not a reliable partner," Otto Reich, President Bush's former special envoy to Latin America, says by phone. "That is a very unfair signal, but that is what our enemies would say. Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro probably have their talking points ready to say: "See? That's what you get for believing in the U.S. You come to us, and we will give you money.'"

Chavez — Venezuela's increasingly authoritarian leader — plays Mini-Me to Castro, the Cuban dictator, one-time physician, and long-time Dr. Evil of Latin America. Together, they stir trouble around the hemisphere in every conceivable manner, from collaborating with left-wing politicians in South America to using petroleum as a socialist lubricant.

I just hope "the better angels" in Congress will stand up for the liberating and democratic forces of free trade by passing CAFTA. We'll see what happens.