Frank Fluckiger – Chairman, National Executive Committee
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Joseph Nigro, the president of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, recently said that “this Administration would seek to extend the worst parts of horrible trade agreements like NAFTA,” and that his union “will only support and work for those candidates and parties that serve to support working people.” He was talking about the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). And with your help, he will be talking about Constitution Party candidates. |
Blue collar American workers are about to get pushed further into an economic New World Order and they are waking up to the bipartisan power elites behind “free trade” deals.
Of course “free trade” treaties have nothing to do with free or even fair trade: they are micro-managed trade deals, usually hammered out in back room negotiations. The North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) had over a thousand pages of fine print — filled with favors and exceptions for special interests, Wall Street banksters, and powerful multi-national corporations. The result of that pact was the imposition of regulations and restrictions on U.S. manufacturers — at the cost of jobs for the already hurting middle class.
I encourage you to read this article by a member of our Executive Committee on just one impact of “free trade” treaties: opening our trade doors to more foreign workers who compete with jobless Americans.
Each “free trade” treaty is another piecemeal surrender of American sovereignty. Currently, the TPP agreement is being negotiated — in secret, even from Congress — between representatives of governments and giant, multinational corporations.
The power elites are asking Congress to pass “Fast Track” Trade Promotion Authority. This would mean Congress yields its authority and duties under the Constitution, and has a rushed up-or-down vote on whatever is presented to them.
The same tactic used in passing the Obamacare legislation.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has introduced S. 3225, legislation that would require the Office of the United States Trade Representative to disclose its TPP documents to all members of Congress. Wyden asserted:
“The majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PHRMA, Comcast, and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement.”
Please contact your Senator and ask that he support the Wyden bill. Tell them you are opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
The information you need on TPP is outlined by the Constitution Party’s 2008 nominee for Vice President, Darrell Castle, in his Castle Report podcast. A more in-depth piece is found in a recent New American magazine article.
Remember, the Constitution Party is forthright in its opposition to any treaty that endangers U.S. sovereignty and the best interests of American workers. Our platform calls for, “the withdrawal of the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and all other agreements wherein agencies other than the Congress of the United States improperly assume responsibility for establishing American trade policies.”
These are exciting times — challenging ones — for the Constitution Party. We are gearing up for a very active 2014 campaign year, and as you will read in the latest newsletter, reports from states as varied as Alaska and West Virginia are very encouraging. And, in late breaking news, the national and New Mexico Constitution Parties are about to file a suit challenging the NM Secretary of State’s ruling that disqualifies our affiliate from ballot access. This case will be heard in the NM Supreme Court, and we will keep you informed of our progress.
In the meantime, please be generous with your support of a growing, vibrant, and aggressive Constitution Party. We are the only political party to stand with blue collar workers in defiance of the power elites’ latest “free trade” scam. Help us enlist them into positive political action. Your gift of $50 or $40 or even $20 will be a good investment in our outreach efforts.
And may I make this challenge? We are seeking three generous Constitutionalists who will donate one thousand dollars each, perhaps half now and half next month, to prepare for a very busy November. Perhaps there are six patriots willing to contribute $500 each — again, half now and half next month. Please consider this request seriously.
No matter what your investment, I urge you to stand with us against the liberty-threatening Trans Pacific Partnership, and support our efforts to recruit hard-working middle class Americans who are realizing how the power elites are manipulating our economy. Please be generous by sending a $25 gift — or making a $1000 pledge — so we may be on the front lines of this fight.
In an article entitled “The Pacific free trade deal that’s anything but free,” British columnist Dean Baker noted this dangerous aspect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: “The pharmaceutical industry is also likely to be a big gainer from this pact. It has decided that the stronger patent rules that it inserted in the 1995 WTO [World Trade Organization] agreement don’t go far enough. It wants stronger and longer patent protection and also increased use of ‘data exclusivity.’ This is a government-granted monopoly, often as long as 14 years, that prohibits generic competitors from entering a market based on another company’s test results that show a drug to be safe and effective. Note that stronger copyright and patent protection, along with data exclusivity, is the opposite of free trade. They involve increased government intervention in the market; they restrict competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.”
This fight is worth our time and resources. Write your Senator and invest in the Constitution Party.