About that trade agreement we had...........

The Cap Times reports on the Wisconsin congressional delegation's position on H.R. 3012:

Wisconsin House members Tammy Baldwin, Gwen Moore and Steve Kagen, all Democrats, are co-sponsors. They’re on the right side of history. The other members of the delegation — Democrat Ron Kind and Republicans Paul Ryan, James Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri — are not.

H.R. 3012 is the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development, and Employment Act of 2009, The TRADE Act. (Who spends all the time to come up with these acronyms anyway?)

In a time of economic insecurity and with the Congress and White House controlled by the Democrats it's no surprise that international trade might come in for more than the average amount of scrutiny. But according to the bill's official summary, this act:

Requires the President to submit to Congress a plan for the renegotiation of existing trade agreements to bring them into compliance with such standards.

That is it requires the President to go back over previous agreements and modify them so that they are in agreement with new standards passed by a Democratic Congress and White House.

Changing the rules after the game is underway is not only anathema to the American spirit it is an incredibly bad way to do business either at home or abroad. But it is more than that. It is also a great way to undermine a free society. Restrictions on the ability of those in power to change the rules is instrumental in maintaining freedom.

Perhaps there are some trade deals that were negotiated that are in fact not in our interests. If that is the case, then those specific agreements which appear problematic should be publicized and there should be a debate about how to correct the damage. If the TRADE act is little more than an attempt to score points with a powerful constituency simply because the political winds have shifted in the Democrats favor, then those listed above as being on the wrong side of history are right to oppose it.