Thomas Roe (1927-2000) was a businessman from South Carolina who, at the urging of Ronald Reagan, established the State Policy Network (SPN) in 1992. The SPN, philosophically opposed to the federal government, began operations to move the realm of legislation away from a central government by transferring it to the states. Reagan had previously established a national Task Force on Federalism, which relied heavily on “expert” testimony provided by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), founded in 1973 by, among others, Paul Weyrich. John Kasich of Ohio, Jack Kemp of New York and Jesse Helms of North Carolina were also actively involved with ALEC. ALEC also seeks to promote its own agenda, and the agenda of its corporate sponsors, by influencing state legislative bodies. ALEC and SPN are both funded by the Koch brothers, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon, Kraft Foods, Comcast, Facebook, the Waltons, the Coors family and Monsanto, among many others. These corporations have a vested interest in maintaining profits derived from the extraction of fossil fuels, large, industrial food operations, pesticide manufacture and use, and the creation of trade agreements that would cement their control and expansion without interference from the federal government. The SPN and ALEC agenda includes the defunding and privatization of public schools, including universities, blocking access to affordable healthcare, restricting the collective bargaining rights of workers, promoting the privatization of pension funds, opposing renewable, clean energy sources, promoting the use of fossil fuels while repealing pollution restrictions and environmental protections, increasing income inequality by favoring tax systems that benefit those at the top while pushing for flat taxes that hurt middle income and poor people, cutting government services, and opposing minimum wage laws, even to the point of repealing the minimum wage altogether. These organizations and corporations are the primary force behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), which is heavily touted by President Obama. And these organizations and corporations have donated about $218 million to senators since 2008 to make sure this trade agreement is passed.
With such power behind the passage of the TPP, it would seem an insurmountable task to oppose its implementation. But prominent voices continue to expose the dangers to the environment and our sovereignty should this trade agreement go into effect. Bernie Sanders has called the TPP “a part of a global race to the bottom to boost profits of large corporations and Wall Street by outsourcing jobs; undercutting worker rights; dismantling labor, environmental, health, food safety and financial laws; and allowing corporations to challenge our laws in international tribunals rather than our own court system.” Paul Krugman, a Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, states simply that “this is not a trade agreement. It’s about intellectual property and dispute settlement. The big beneficiaries are likely to be pharma companies and firms that want to sue governments.” Elizabeth Warren has been particularly outspoken concerning ISDS (investor state dispute settlement) provisions of the TPP, “an obscure process that allows big companies to go to corporate-friendly arbitration panels that sit outside any court system in order to challenge laws they don’t like. These panels can force taxpayers to write huge checks to those big corporations with no need to file a suit in court, no appeals and no judicial review. Now, most Americans don’t think that the minimum wage or anti-smoking regulations are trade barriers, but a foreign corporation used ISDS to sue Egypt after Egypt raised its minimum wage. Tobacco giant Philip Morris went after Australia and Uruguay to stop their rules to cut smoking rates.”
The TPP would invade every corner of our democracy and erode it until nothing is left. Ironically, there is one hope in defeating this trade agreement and it lies with the Tea Party. In their opposition to any and all things promoted by “Barack HUSSEIN Obama,” they very well could derail this disastrous agreement. Perhaps we can, after all, gain something positive from this noxious political bloc. In the interim, if you haven’t already, contact your representatives and tell them you will not support future election campaigns if they vote to enact the TPP.
Recipe of the Week
This is a simple alternative to using grated Parmesan cheese on pasta. Its origins are from Southern Italy, and it works well with most pasta dishes.
Toasted Bread Crumbs with Oregano
2 cups bread crumbs
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbls. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
Cut stale French bread into somewhat smallish pieces. Put these into a food processor and pulse until very fine. Heat the oil in a cast iron frying pan on medium heat. Add the bread crumbs and cook, stirring now and again, for about 5 minutes, or until crispy and brown. Season with salt and pepper. If you don’t use all of them on one dish, you can keep them in jar in the freezer for future use.