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THE LEFT IS RIGHT AND VICE VERSA
Date: December 10, 1999
To: The Wall Street Journal
Rather than lament that the Left staged protests at the World Trade
Organization as Francis Fukuyama did ("The Left Should Love
Globalization," Dec. 1), I was happy to see a change toward national
allegiance on their part. I still remember the anti-war protests of my
college days, when the Left burned the U.S. flag. The fad then was to
embrace Third World dictatorships, especially the Chinese, as being more
"progressive" than America. Now, it has dawned on our domestic leftists
that America is the most advanced society on the planet, with high living
standards and a vibrant middle class. They want to protect it, as should
we all.
The odd part is that just when the Left has discovered the American
success story and turned nationalistic, much of the Right has abandoned
its patriotic roots just when it could have become a true majority party.
They have sold out to petty corporate interests so arrogant they think
they can discard the rest of the country. In Seattle, the philosophical
flag-burners were in the convention hall, not on the street.
The redistribution of industrial, financial and technological resources
across borders by unhinged corporations and hostile governments via "free
trade" can threaten more than our wages and public health laws; it can
undermine our national security and endanger our very survival.
International economics is ultimately about the global balance of power.
No American, regardless of politics, should feel safe surrendering U.S.
authority to the WTO.
William R. Hawkins - HawkinsUSA@aol.com
Visiting Fellow
U.S. Business and Industry Council
Washington, D.C.
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Note: My letter is followed in print by one from Thomas Donahue, head of the
US
Chamber of Commerce, which talks about "the fringe lunatics in Seattle."
Donahue doesn't mention that the Chamber sent out a notice proclaiming it
was "honored" to invite Fidel Castro to a Chamber meeting to discuss trade
with Cuba. Talk about consorting with fringe lunatics (unless one thinks
bloodysoaked dicators are mainstream)! That's why we call him "Anything
for a buck" Donahue and cast a suspicious eye on his allegiance.
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