Moving to the Left

EJ Dionne of the Washington Post has an article today about the country moving to the left. He has a couple interesting points...

Today's left is not talking about nationalizing industry, abolishing capitalism or destroying the rich. What passes for "left" in American politics is quite moderate by historical standards.

He cites popular Republicans governing with moderate views and Democrats embracing economic populism doing well at the polls...

Economic populism is no longer marginal or antique. Frustration over growing economic inequalities, excessive compensation for executives, the privileged role of hedge funds and the disruptions caused by globalization are mainstream concerns. Newly elected Democratic senators as diverse as Jon Tester of Montana, Jim Webb of Virginia, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota all sounded populist themes in 2006.

Democrats Support Fair Trade

From David Sirota...

Here’s the Financial Times today:

“The US Congress will reject two trade deals agreed with Colombia and Peru, leading Democrats said, in a significant blow to President George W. Bush’s agenda for his final two years in office. Democratic lawmakers drafted a letter to Mr Bush on Tuesday night signalling their opposition to the pacts because they lacked tougher labour standards.”

Why is this happening? Here’s Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in the Washington Post:

“The message of this election says to me that all of these trade agreements need to be renegotiated. When a plant of 300 people closes in a town of 20,000, it hurts families and destroys communities.”

This is really incredible. Suddenly, the progressive agenda on trade is ascending. Suddenly, the Bob Rubins, the Gene Sperlings, the Tom Friedmans and the rest of the neoliberals are being steamrolled. Suddenly, Democrats have found a backbone on globalization, pushing for policies that lift the world up, rather than those that create a race to the bottom.

Democratic Senate Candidates Put Main St. Ahead of Wall St.

I saw this article by Harlod Meyerson of the Washington Post on David Sirota's blog. Meyerson writes particulary about Bob Casey, who is running against Rick Santorum in Pennslyvania, but closes with this comment on fair trade and Democratic candidates for Senate this year...

And the liberal case for Casey is a strong one -- particularly on trade. A critic of both the North American and Central American free-trade agreements, Casey wants trade pacts that require signatory nations to enforce worker rights and environmental protections. A number of leading Democratic senatorial candidates this year -- Ohio's Sherrod Brown, Vermont's Bernie Sanders (an independent who's in effect a Democrat) and, yes, Connecticut's Ned Lamont -- share Casey's perspective on trade. Their victories would shift, perhaps decisively, the Senate Democratic caucus toward a trade policy in which Main Street is taken at least as seriously as Wall Street. It's a shift, if the Main Streets of central Pennsylvania are any indication, that would come not a moment too soon.

Sirota then adds to Meyerson article...

I would add to this list Montana Democratic Senate nominee Jon Tester, who has taken a strong line on trade. If all these folks win, they will join courageous populists like Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Russ Feingold (D-WI). That means we really could see a powerful bloc of Senate votes that could seriously change the direction of our economic policy for the better. Add to that the potential importance of trade in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries (especially with the union-heavy Nevada caucuses moved up), and we’re on the verge of finally seeing America’s sellout trade policy put on trial - and changed.