Dean's legacy on the Kerry-Edwards trade debate

By Aziz P. -
link goes to my analysis of the positions espoused by Kerry and Edwards on the NAFTA issue. The bottom line is that Edwards is espousing a populist anti-NAFTA position which I think is ultimately harmful and bad policy. Dean's position on NAFTA always was that its good policy but it needs to be extended to provide incentive to raise labor standards among our trading partners. In other words, add emphasis on human rights to trade (just as President Carter added emphasis on human rights to foreign policy). This is sound policy as well as strong moral leadership. Kerry has actually sounded more like Dean than Edwards has, echoing the need to use NAFTA as a means to improve the lot of workers such that there is no anti-rights incentive for jobs to go overseas. Edwards sees NAFTA as exploitative, but Kerry and Dean share a vision of NAFTA as potentially transformative. I think Edwards is simply wrong on this issue and lacks the vision that Dean first promoted and that Kerry (thankfully) is still sticking by.

This is another reason to vote for Dean in the primary. Send a message to Kerry and Edwards that Dean's original position was the right one.

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