David Obey: “The Washington political establishment is looking down its collective elitist nose at those of us who are saying no to…”

“The Washington political establishment is looking down its collective elitist nose at those of us who are saying no to legislation that would provide permanent Most-Favored-Nation trading status for China. In their newspaper columns and at their cocktail parties they tut-tut that those of us raising a challenge to that legislation are simply trying to stop economic progress that comes from globalized trade and are, therefore, hopelessly old fashioned. The fact is just the opposite. Those who say that we must accept the reality of globalized trade and support permanent favored nation status for the Chinese without a major transformation of trading rules are in fact the ones stuck in the past. They are defending a set of absolutist trading arrangements and a set of useful but creaky international institutions that were established at the end of World War II. They give only token recognition to the changes that are needed in these essential but antiquated institutions. At the end of World War II, visionary world leaders saw Europe in ruins because of Hitler's mad rampage through the middle of the 20th Century.”