SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine recognize the political necessity of opposing the agreement, but have not yet acknowledged how harmful "free trade" agreements generally are to democracy. (Photo: AP)
What to Make of VP Pick Tim Kaine's Reversal on TPP
Jul 26, 2016
In a representative democracy, the idea is that the representatives should support the preferences of their constituencies. This is what is happening with the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick, Tim Kaine has reversed his position from supporting TPP to opposing it. He had praised TPP as recently as Thursday. He has changed his position on TPP, and good for him for doing so.
Kaine had to change his position immediately after being chosen as Clinton's VP pick. This is what happens when people organize and make their voices heard. This is the power of the progressive movement.
This is the new Democratic party -- recognizing reality, and starting to listen to the voices of working people again. (Starting to, but certainly not all the way there yet.) Clinton and Kaine recognize the political necessity of opposing the agreement, but have not yet acknowledged how harmful "free trade" agreements generally are to democracy. The core idea of these agreements is that countries surrender their sovereign power to impose tariffs and other trade limitations, when determined to be in their own national interest. In other words, they agree to place the interests of corporations above the wider interests of the nation-at-large and their people.
Credibility Against Trump
Kaine's shift from supporting TPP helps Clinton's credibility on the issue. Donald Trump is running as a self-described "free-trader" who happens to oppose TPP. He says Clinton is only "pretending" to oppose TPP. It is important for Clinton that Kaine also voices opposition to TPP. Unfortunately she continues to defer to President Obama's continuing support for TPP, not yet calling on Obama to withdraw the agreement from consideration by Congress.
Roger Hickey, writing in Two Democratic Parties in Philadelphia: They Must Unite And Beat Trump. says, "Now Clinton and Kaine need to take their opposition to TPP into the campaign, showing Sanders voters - and voters in industrial states tempted to go for Trump - that they really mean it when they say they will stop the TPP."
Meanwhile, Trump's VP nominee Mike Pence still supports TPP.
On January 20th, it begins...
Political revenge. Mass deportations. Project 2025. Unfathomable corruption. Attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Pardons for insurrectionists. An all-out assault on democracy. Republicans in Congress are scrambling to give Trump broad new powers to strip the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit he doesn’t like by declaring it a “terrorist-supporting organization.” Trump has already begun filing lawsuits against news outlets that criticize him. At Common Dreams, we won’t back down, but we must get ready for whatever Trump and his thugs throw at us. Our Year-End campaign is our most important fundraiser of the year. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. By donating today, please help us fight the dangers of a second Trump presidency. |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson is a former Senior Fellow for the Campaign for America's Future & Renew California.
In a representative democracy, the idea is that the representatives should support the preferences of their constituencies. This is what is happening with the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick, Tim Kaine has reversed his position from supporting TPP to opposing it. He had praised TPP as recently as Thursday. He has changed his position on TPP, and good for him for doing so.
Kaine had to change his position immediately after being chosen as Clinton's VP pick. This is what happens when people organize and make their voices heard. This is the power of the progressive movement.
This is the new Democratic party -- recognizing reality, and starting to listen to the voices of working people again. (Starting to, but certainly not all the way there yet.) Clinton and Kaine recognize the political necessity of opposing the agreement, but have not yet acknowledged how harmful "free trade" agreements generally are to democracy. The core idea of these agreements is that countries surrender their sovereign power to impose tariffs and other trade limitations, when determined to be in their own national interest. In other words, they agree to place the interests of corporations above the wider interests of the nation-at-large and their people.
Credibility Against Trump
Kaine's shift from supporting TPP helps Clinton's credibility on the issue. Donald Trump is running as a self-described "free-trader" who happens to oppose TPP. He says Clinton is only "pretending" to oppose TPP. It is important for Clinton that Kaine also voices opposition to TPP. Unfortunately she continues to defer to President Obama's continuing support for TPP, not yet calling on Obama to withdraw the agreement from consideration by Congress.
Roger Hickey, writing in Two Democratic Parties in Philadelphia: They Must Unite And Beat Trump. says, "Now Clinton and Kaine need to take their opposition to TPP into the campaign, showing Sanders voters - and voters in industrial states tempted to go for Trump - that they really mean it when they say they will stop the TPP."
Meanwhile, Trump's VP nominee Mike Pence still supports TPP.
Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson is a former Senior Fellow for the Campaign for America's Future & Renew California.
In a representative democracy, the idea is that the representatives should support the preferences of their constituencies. This is what is happening with the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Hillary Clinton's vice presidential pick, Tim Kaine has reversed his position from supporting TPP to opposing it. He had praised TPP as recently as Thursday. He has changed his position on TPP, and good for him for doing so.
Kaine had to change his position immediately after being chosen as Clinton's VP pick. This is what happens when people organize and make their voices heard. This is the power of the progressive movement.
This is the new Democratic party -- recognizing reality, and starting to listen to the voices of working people again. (Starting to, but certainly not all the way there yet.) Clinton and Kaine recognize the political necessity of opposing the agreement, but have not yet acknowledged how harmful "free trade" agreements generally are to democracy. The core idea of these agreements is that countries surrender their sovereign power to impose tariffs and other trade limitations, when determined to be in their own national interest. In other words, they agree to place the interests of corporations above the wider interests of the nation-at-large and their people.
Credibility Against Trump
Kaine's shift from supporting TPP helps Clinton's credibility on the issue. Donald Trump is running as a self-described "free-trader" who happens to oppose TPP. He says Clinton is only "pretending" to oppose TPP. It is important for Clinton that Kaine also voices opposition to TPP. Unfortunately she continues to defer to President Obama's continuing support for TPP, not yet calling on Obama to withdraw the agreement from consideration by Congress.
Roger Hickey, writing in Two Democratic Parties in Philadelphia: They Must Unite And Beat Trump. says, "Now Clinton and Kaine need to take their opposition to TPP into the campaign, showing Sanders voters - and voters in industrial states tempted to go for Trump - that they really mean it when they say they will stop the TPP."
Meanwhile, Trump's VP nominee Mike Pence still supports TPP.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.