It’s no secret Sacramento Democrats will take any and every opportunity to pontificate about issues outside their purview. Their most common means of expressing their opinions about national or international matters is the joint resolution.
As Assemblyman Chuck DeVore pointed out via Twitter on Monday, the Assembly passed AJR 27, a resolution urging Congress to oppose a free trade agreement between the United States and the South American country Colombia. The resolution reads like it was written by labor union apologists, not unbiased evaluators of America’s relationship with Colombia.
The day after AJR 27 passed the Assembly (it now needs Senate approval), the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board published an article about the importance of such a trade agreement with Colombia, urging its approval. Now when it comes to pretty much any issue, I’ll side with the intelligent, educated experts over at the Wall Street Journal over the short-sighted Progressives infesting the state capitol.
What happens in Colombia is of special interest to me right now because my brother recently moved to the country to study Spanish and learn more about the culture. From his reports, Colombia is a nation that is recovering from its violent, drug-cartel past and is actually much safer than some American inner cities. Granted, the FARC still causes some problems, but for the most part the country is stabilizing through democratic governance and more engagement in international trade. The recent presidential election was a great success, with limited interference from those wishing to disrupt democratic activities.
One of the most encouraging signs about Colombia is the enemies it’s making. Colombia’s democratic and capitalist strides have earned the contempt of neighboring country Venezuela and its Obama-loving dictator Hugo Chavez. Most of the Colombians my brother has interacted with cannot stand Chavez and see him as a real threat to peace in South America. It’s safe to assume any enemy of communist Chavez is a great American ally.
California liberals are on a boycott tear right now, with Arizona the latest victim of their politically-correct chest-thumping, and now Colombia has drawn their ire. Legislators should ask themselves whether stopping free trade with an ally in South America will help America or Colombia in the long run. Of course, in a legislature that sympathizes with communists, that may be a question they don’t want to answer.