The New Senate

To compare the new senate to the old one, a great tool is these maps. The first one is the old senate. The second is the new senate. In these maps of the United States you see a BLUE state for two Democratic senators, RED for two Republican senators, and purple for one of each. The changes most notable are Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania changing from Red to Purple. These areas are in the industrial belt of American and the change is largely because all three newly elected Senators, Claire Makaskill in Missouri, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and Bob Casey in Pennsylvania, came out in favor of protectionism. If you look at the manufacturing labor force in Pennsylvania and Ohio’s diminishing numbers paired with high unemployment in Missouri a shift is clearly noted. One thing to note, to go along with the affects these new senators may have in relation to the post below, is that although Sherrod Brown is “anti-globalization” his record of votes in the House doesn’t always mirror this. Despite being the author of “The Myths of Free Trade,” Brown still votes with the party on some pro-Free Trade issues. Perhaps its true that what someone says about globalization to an audience during a campaign, or in a rant and rave based book is quite different then how they will actually vote.

The New House

Yesterday, 53 newly elected members of the House arrived in Washington D.C. for a crash course in their new jobs. Last week, they were a social worker, a sheriff, a college professor, an allergist. Yesterday, they came to Washington as lawmakers-to-be, bringing an enthusiasm tempered by a sense of purpose. While the 40 Democrats and 13 Republicans who will join the 110th Congress in January are spending the week learning grand traditions and nitty-gritty details, we should learn about them, specifically their stances on globalization and free trade.

Attacking “free trade” with its anti-industrial devastation, and campaigning for fair trade, gained Congressional seats for Democratic candidates, particularly in Ohio and Indiana, but also in North Carolina, California, and other states. A London Financial Times commentary piece on Nov. 9 remorsefully concluded that “the real casualty” of the U.S. election “was free trade.” Looking at the 53 newly elected members of the House, 27 of the Democrats and 4 of the Republicans had campaign stances which were tainted against Globalization, or at least campaign platforms which showed concern for American workers.

But does this all really matter? Stephen Lendman of the Global Research Institute thinks not in a piece published on November 13^th. His piece titled, New Faces, Same Agenda discusses that those controlling the political process in Washington owe their allegiance to the interests of wealth & power not to the people who send them there.

The political firmament shook briefly post-November 7 raising hopes change would follow the Republican’s drubbing at the polls and the Democrats regaining control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the GOP sweep in 1994. Presumed new House speaker Nancy Pelosi stopped the tremors making it clear no substantive change will be on the table when the 110th Congress convenes on January 3. Instead, she announced to those paying attention it’ll be business as usual (as it always is) as she intends to work with the president in a spirit of bipartisanship and not be “obstructionist” even though Republicans for past 12 years never returned that courtesy or even made a pretense of doing it. Pelosi made it clear the Democrat victory will be just another betrayal of the electorate that sent her and the Democrats a strong message it voted for a mandated populist anti-Bush, anti-war agenda it won’t get. It’s always for the same reason – because those controlling the political process in Washington owe their allegiance to the interests of wealth and power that select and fund them and of which these officials are a part. Politics 101, Washington-style teaches that nothing can be taken on its face, campaign promises are empty and disingenuous, and in the nation’s Capitol the criminal class is bipartisan.

On the flip side, Dean Baker, of The Center for Economic and Policy Research argues that the Democrats will prevent new trade deals.

“Many of the Democrats elected made the Bush (and Clinton) administration trade policy a major issue. The Congress was already unsympathetic to new trade agreements. It will be much less friendly following this election.”

In all likelihood the 110th Congress will not be characterized by bold new agendas dealing with Globalization. Further, I think that campaign promises to people in states with increasing unemployment due to globalization will not necessarily be mirrored by congressional action in the mucky waters of Washington.

Chafee Primary

There was a great report from NPR this morning about the upcoming Rhode Island primary.  Check it out here. This primary will make a big difference on not only this fall’s cycle, but also 2008.  I am and continue to be a big Chafee supporter based of course on my summer’s spent working in his Capital Hill office.  Lincoln Chafee is a good, honest, and decent man, and while my views are not perfectly in line with his, he is what I would consider to be the most righteous politican in national politics.