Posted on 12/09/2005 7:21:25 PM PST by Ooh-Ah
Careful. Some FReep vigilante will call you a Bush-basher.
For what it's worth, I think your comment was excellent, all the way through.
When the FTAA is passed we will be merged with all these countries. They will send their poor to the US who will get housing healthcare and schooling paid for by US taxpayers, social security after working only 14 months, and they send money back to the "poor countries" in the form of remittances, which will help to keep their corrupt governments propped up. Think of how NAFTA has propped up the Mexican economy, where Mexicans in the US send $20 billion a year back to Mexico and their corrupt Presidente calls the illegals "heros" for doing this.
Now multiply that by 34. The US economy will be completely looted in the FTAA.
Thanks, but nothing in my post was directed at the President. It's those that report to him that are failing us (State Dept, CIA, Democrats in Congress,etc.) The man can only do so much without any support.
All true, but not really what I was addressing. I could have been clearer that I was referring to National Security concerns more than economics. In the old days, someone like Chavez would never have come to power unless we wanted him to.
Very true.
However, there are people on FReep who will take any unsparingly realistic analysis and turn it into an alleged example of Bush-bashing.
We "proactived" the bejeebus out of some of these countries in the 1970s and 1980s. Didn't do any good. Of course, back then, the rationale was that the Soviet Union was manipulating them. Now the rationale will be that it's China. So they're leaning left. Lots of countries in the world lean left.
Love that phrase, by the way: proactive with our influence. A definite classic.
Yeah, unfortunately I have seen some of that lately.
Sadly, I agree with everything that Wolfhound777 wrote.
proof? No really, it's a serious request. I see Carter giving the canal away as a starting point where the chinese started coming into the hemisphere; but that's just an opinion. Need something with more meat on the bone.
not discounting Carter affect - giving away the canal was stupid and very dangerous for our security. In quick context here, though, I also think it represented an opportunity; an opening - or vacuum, as seen by the departing/waning of American influence - that the more focussed leftist government/political/cultural systems have been able to exploit. And yes, there's a large dose of anti-Americanism in there.
As to why this is happening? I agree, it's a cultural thing... look at Mexico; all that oil discovered, what... 20, 25 years ago? All the hope that the benefit of this wealth would allow that nation to build/invest into the first tier of nation-states? Yet the problems there are still bad, perhaps worse.
Spanish colonial culture reflected the values of the mother country - central control, a small number of powerful and influential families (the de-facto nobility) running things, a weak middle-class, and a large lower-class pool of available labor.
That lowest class would also not have very many opportunities to work/grow out of their station in life. I've read somewhere that Mexico - despite the wealth from the oilfields - is still controlled by something like 10 or 15 families who control about 95% of everything there. And we know where their poor come in search of opportunity - here!
So, unlike here, where a man can go as far as dedication, perserverance and limits of ability will carry him, people and nations in South America don't have that same rock-solid core belief. Sure, there's "some" opportunity that looks like a free-market based system... but it seems to be a veneer. The influence of the powerful few seems to prevail more down there. For good and bad, but ultimately not for the interest of the individual common man. Imagine, to live in a world where how far you can go in life, how well you can provide for your loved ones, depends more upon the sufference of others wealthier than you than it does upon your own efforts?
Also, please correct me if I'm wrong, but most if not all South American governments have essentially 'disarmed' their populaces. Which makes a Chavez - who controls the army - literally stealing elections possible... and the apparent complete lack of reaction from the "venezuelan street" also understandable. Plain and simple, if they rise up against the petty Caracas Castroite, they get killed dead.
In summary, what's my answer to the question, "why does the left always seem to do well in south America?": No middle class; no "second amendment" armed populace; no rule of law based on individual rights, instead coerced/emasculated via control of a powerful few; fewer opportunities; what opportunities there are must perforce be guided into/serve the interests of the oligarchs.
Oligarchs & leftism - like peas in a pod.
Whatever the case may be, I don't put much stock in anything Latin American further down then 12 miles south of Ponce, Puerto Rico. And that, my friend, means Puerto Rico, USA... if it weren't for the United States, PR might be a basket case like the rest of the southern continent.
Juan//CGVet58
Yep, let's not forget Mexico...
Farther north in Mexico, polls show that Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a hard-charging leftist populist, may replace the business-friendly president, Vicente Fox, who is barred from another term.
Traditional, market-friendly politicians can still win in all of these countries. But at the moment, polls show a general leftward drift that could result in policies sharply deviating from longstanding American economic remedies like [remittances from illegal aliens], unfettered trade and privatization, better known as the Washington Consensus.
One reason for Argentina to veer left is the effect of the IMF "reforming" their economy into one more suitable for supranational centralized management by the globalists at the WTO, paid for by the US taxpayer.
Name one. Curious.
Name one. Curious.
Without too much searching, I found such language (though not in any binding agreements that I saw) on the official website of the FTAA, where you can find the Miami Declaration of the First Summit of the Americas:
[ ... ]
To Eradicate Poverty And Discrimination In Our Hemisphere
It is politically intolerable and morally unacceptable that some segments of our populations are marginalized and do not share fully in the benefits of growth. With an aim of attaining greater social justice for all our people, we pledge to work individually and collectively to improve access to quality education and primary health care and to eradicate extreme poverty and illiteracy. The fruits of democratic stability and economic growth must be accessible to all, without discrimination by race, gender, national origin or religious affiliation.
In observance of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People, we will focus our energies on improving the exercise of democratic rights and the access to social services by indigenous people and their communities.
Aware that widely shared prosperity contributes to hemispheric stability, lasting peace and democracy, we acknowledge our common interest in creating employment opportunities that improve the incomes, wages and working conditions of all our people. We will invest in people so that individuals throughout the Hemisphere have the opportunity to realize their full potential.
Strengthening the role of women in all aspects of political, social and economic life in our countries is essential to reduce poverty and social inequalities and to enhance democracy and sustainable development.
[ ... ]
To Guarantee Sustainable Development and Conserve Our Natural Environment for Future Generations
Social progress and economic prosperity can be sustained only if our people live in a healthy environment and our ecosystems and natural resources are managed carefully and responsibly. To advance and implement the commitments made at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, and the 1994 Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, held in Barbados, we will create cooperative partnerships to strengthen our capacity to prevent and control pollution, to protect ecosystems and use our biological resources on a sustainable basis, and to encourage clean, efficient and sustainable energy production and use. To benefit future generations through environmental conservation, including the rational use of our ecosystems, natural resources and biological heritage, we will continue to pursue technological, financial and other forms of cooperation.
We will advance our social well-being and economic prosperity in ways that are fully cognizant of our impact on the environment. We agree to support the Central American Alliance for Sustainable Development, which seeks to strengthen those democracies by promoting regional economic and social prosperity and sound environmental management. In this context, we support the convening of other regional meetings on sustainable development.
From the Santiago Declaration of the Second Summit of the Americas at the same website:
In order to continue the dialogue and strengthen the cooperation we began in Miami in December 1994. Since that time, significant progress has been made in the formulation and execution of joint plans and programs in order to take advantage of the great opportunities before us. We reaffirm our will to continue this most important undertaking, which requires sustained national efforts and dynamic international cooperation.The strengthening of democracy, political dialogue, economic stability, progress towards social justice, the extent to which our trade liberalization policies coincide, and the will to expedite a process of ongoing Hemispheric integration have made our relations more mature. We will redouble our efforts to continue reforms designed to improve the living conditions of the peoples of the Americas and to achieve a mutually supportive community. For this reason, we have decided that education is a key theme and is of particular importance in our deliberations. We approve the attached Plan of Action and undertake to carry out its initiatives.
[ ... ]
Overcoming poverty continues to be the greatest challenge confronted by our Hemisphere. We are conscious that the positive growth shown in the Americas in past years has yet to resolve the problems of inequity and social exclusion. We are determined to remove the barriers that deny the poor access to proper nutrition, social services, a healthy environment, credit, and legal title to their property. We will provide greater support to micro and small enterprises, promote core labor standards recognized by the International Labor Organization (ILO), and use new technologies to improve the health conditions of every family in the Americas, with the technical support of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), achieving greater levels of equity and sustainable development.
From the Third Summit of the Americas, the Quebec City Declaration:
We, the democratically elected Heads of State and Government of the Americas, have met in Quebec City at our Third Summit, to renew our commitment to hemispheric integration and national and collective responsibility for improving the economic well-being and security of our people. We have adopted a Plan of Action to strengthen representative democracy, promote good governance and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.* We seek to create greater prosperity and expand economic opportunities while fostering social justice and the realization of human potential.[ ... ]
Free and open economies, market access, sustained flows of investment, capital formation, financial stability, appropriate public policies, access to technology and human resources development and training are key to reducing poverty and inequalities, raising living standards and promoting sustainable development. We will work with all sectors of civil society and international organizations to ensure that economic activities contribute to the sustainable development of our societies.
And it is found in several places in the Special Summit of the Americas Declaration of Nuevo León.
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