Bill Clinton: “So why is the small business community in America overwhelmingly in support of NAFTA? Because you understand also the…”

“So why is the small business community in America overwhelmingly in support of NAFTA? Because you understand also the only way to sell more is to have more customers, and the only way to succeed is to compete and win. And you know something that everyone in America has to learn: that we cannot run from the forces of competition. We have to face them and overcome them and continue to change and grow. That is what America has always done. That is the meaning of this exhibit. If you look around, you see in this exhibit the history of the accumulated lives of innovative, creative entrepreneurs, the people who paved the way for all of you to be here today. And on Wednesday, we are going to see the United States Congress pass a vote which will either be in the great tradition of all those who put their products in this museum and all you who come to this Nation's Capital, or will be the exception to the rule but one for which there is some evidence that maybe we just will turn away one more time. Every time we have done that, this country has gotten burned. Every time. And all the people who are against it say, ``Well, there's something different about this. This is worse, or this is different, or whatever.'' I say to them, if we don't adopt this we will never know how good it can be. If all the naysayers turn out to be wrong, the treaty gives us a right to withdraw in 6 months. Why don't we just wait and see whether we're right or they're right? You know we're right. You know it because it is consistent with your own life experience. And the argument that is being made here, that we shouldn't even try, we should give up before we engage, is really very, very bad for our country and ignores the enormous productivity gains that have been achieved by Americans in the last several years. We are now in a position to take advantage of our productivity gains. But all of you know what productivity is, it's the same number of people producing more, or fewer people producing more. So now, if you want to have more jobs and more incomes, we have to have more people to sell to. It is clear and self-evident. I want you to contact these Members of Congress in the next 2 days and make the case I just made about insecurity. If any group of people in America understands how change can take you away overnight, it is the small business community. You are for this because you know you cannot repeal the laws of change, you cannot run away from them. And the competitive system in America with winners and losers has produced far more winners than losers over the last 200 years, far more winners than losers. And this will produce more winners than losers. This is the way to grow the American economy. You understand it, and we need you. One of our Nation's strongest advocates for small business, also from North Carolina, is the Director of the Small Business Administration, Erskine Bowles. And I predict he will go down in history as one of the most popular members of our administration because he's the first SBA Director in a long time who's made a living creating small businesses. That's what he's done for 20 years, helped people start small businesses, helped them expand, helped them sell their products overseas, helped them pierce foreign markets in the private sector. And he is a terrific advocate for NAFTA. We were talking the other day about this and it's how I obviously, as you might imagine, since I'm now on my fourth or fifth or sixth conversation with some of these Members of Congress about this issue, I keep trying to think of the argument that can be made. So I implore you again, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but talk to the Members of Congress. Tell them you know all about insecurity, but you know that we can compete and win if we have enough customers to sell to. Thank you, and God bless you.”