4A
OPINION
THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015 | WEST HAWAII TODAY
W
ASHINGTON
— Before
presidential
politics — the game of
getting to 270 electoral
votes — completely eclipses
governing, there is the
urgent task of getting to
217 votes in the House of
Representatives to pass
Trade Promotion Authority
(TPA). This would
guarantee a vote without
amendments on the Trans-
Pacific Partnership trade
agreement. Without TPA,
any trade agreement will
be nibbled to death in
Congress by persons eager
to do organized labor’s
bidding. So, Republicans
who oppose TPA are
collaborating with those
who oppose increasing the
velocity and rationality
of economic life.
TPA touches two
challenging problems:
one economic, one
constitutional. Regarding
both, conservatives have
special responsibilities.
The economic challenge
is to generate economic
growth sufficient to restore
vigor and upward mobility
to an underemployed
America, sustaining
national security and
entitlements as, every
day, another 10,000
baby boomers become
eligible for Social Security
and Medicare. The
constitutional problem is
how to restore institutional
equilibrium by bringing
the presidency back
within the restraints the
Founders devised with the
separation of powers.
Only conservatives can
turn economic policy away
from the self-defeating
aim of redistribution, and
toward growth. This goal
would be advanced by the
trade agreement among the
12 nations who together
account for 37 percent
of the world’s GDP and
one-third of world trade.
Defeating TPA, and thus
the agreement, is a service
most House Democrats will
perform for a reactionary
faction, organized labor.
Defeat would, however,
make economic dynamism
even more elusive,
punishing the nation
without meaningfully
disciplining the president.
This vote comes in
the turgid wake of a
first quarter in which
the economy shrank
0.7 percent — the third
quarterly contraction
during the anemic recovery
that is slouching into its
seventh year. The aging
recovery began in June
2009; another recession
may arrive without there
having been a real recovery
from the previous one.
For Democrats devoted to
policies of redistribution,
economic growth is
an afterthought. Only
Republicans can make
possible the freer trade that
can combat the lingering
stagnation that is Barack
Obama’s painful legacy.
This month, Republicans
can extinguish the Export-
Import Bank, a deplorable
instrument for government
intervention in economic
transactions, simply by
not reauthorizing it. How
perverse it would be to
do so while also opposing
TPA and (hence, in effect)
freer trade, which would
make economic activity
less subject to distortions
by governments.
In the 19th century,
Republicans embraced
a braided duet of vices
— big government and
crony capitalism. Adept at
using tariffs to purchase
the loyalty of particular
constituencies, Republicans
opposed free trade. Twenty-
first century Democrats
generally want government
rather than markets to
regulate commerce and
allocate opportunity,
so they recoil from any
enlargement of the sphere
of economic freedom. The
fact that TPA would make
possible the ratification of
an agreement that is an
imperfect enlargement is
no reason for Republicans
to help Democrats
protect the power of
governments to further
politicize economic life.
Some Republicans are
understandably reluctant
to give any satisfaction
to Obama, who disdains
them as much as he does
constitutional limits on
presidential power. But
a stopped clock is right
twice a day and he rightly
favors freer trade.
Some Republicans
resist granting fast-track
authority, a traditional
presidential prerogative,
to a president who has so
arrogantly disregarded
limits on executive
discretion. It is, however,
unnecessary to defeat fast-
track authority (thereby
defeating freer trade)
in order to restrain this
rogue president. The 22nd
Amendment guarantees his
departure in 19 months.
His lawlessness has
prompted congressional
resistance on multiplying
fronts. The judiciary, too,
has repeatedly rebuked
him for illegal executive
overreaches. So, it is
neither necessary nor
statesmanlike to injure the
nation’s future in order
to protest Obama’s past.
Rep. Paul Ryan
campaigned hard to
prevent a second Obama
term, but he strongly favors
TPA. He notes that if
Obama’s negotiations about
Iran’s nuclear program
were being conducted
under guarantees of
congressional involvement
similar to those contained
in TPA, Congress
would enjoy statutorily
required briefings on
the negotiations and
access to the negotiating
documents. Furthermore,
any agreement with Iran
would have to be made
public for examination
at least 60 days before
Obama signed it, after
which the agreement
could not take effect unless
Congress approves it.
Obama has all the
friends in Congress he has
earned and deserves, so
even among Democrats this
cohort is vanishingly small.
By passing TPA, House
Republicans can achieve a
fine trifecta, demonstrating
their ability to rise
above their justifiable
resentments, underscoring
his dependence on
them and on Congress,
and illustrating his
party’s dependence on
factions inimical to
economic vitality.
George Will’s email address is
.
Old-time story with the same result
When Capt. James Cook first arrived, the
girls didn’t wear clothes. It was easy, that
way, to decide what to wear every morning.
Nothing. Well, there was always the task
of picking a flower to wear behind the ear,
leading to the inevitable question: “Dear,
which one makes me look thinner — the
white plumeria or the pink hibiscus?” It is a
question in which, as every husband knows,
no “correct” answer but only danger lurks.
The ship’s crew immediately began
trading with the kanaka maoli. The most
popular trade, according to the ship’s
log, was “the world’s oldest trade.” The
price for a smooch in the taro patch with
a fun-loving wahine was a two-penny
nail. The kanaka liked nails because they
made cool fishhooks. So, when a wahine
asked her hubbie, “Honey, do you like
my nails?” she meant she’d spent the
afternoon schmoozing with the barbarians.
Rapid inflation set in. In the blink of a
wink, the price rose to a 10-penny nail.
Predictably, within a few days, the ship
began falling apart as every nail that could
be pried loose mysteriously disappeared.
Unfortunately for Capt. Cook, the big box
hardware stores hadn’t opened yet, so it was
up to the ship’s blacksmith to melt down
the spare anchors and make more nails. By
then, however, the price for a peck on the
cheek had escalated to a diamond necklace.
The English sailors had no diamonds, but
fortunately for them they did have pCards.
Keneke Foster
Holualoa
Burying the facts
Once again, Big Island newspapers have
buried — put in the second-to-the-last
paragraph — the information that the
proposed Thirty Meter Telescope would
be 18 stories tall (“Standoff continues
atop Mauna Kea,” page 6A, June 7).
As usual, the story has left out the
information that the proposed TMT would
have a footprint of 250,000 square feet,
not including its surrounding parking
lots, roads, support buildings, etc.
For comparison:
1) The tallest building on our
island is an apartment building
in Hilo that has 15 stories.
2) Costco has 156,000 square
feet of floor in its Kona building
(the shopping area is less).
3) Most of the existing telescopes are
about the size of large, two-story houses.
For these and other reasons, the
inappropriateness is overwhelming,
whether or not you use the word “sacred.”
If you’re an American, would you like
to see such a structure above George
Washington’s head at Mount Rushmore?
Donna Worden
Waimea
Mauna Kea is wrong place for TMT
The Hawaii Supreme Court is bypassing
the Intermediate Court of Appeals and
will address the Thirty Meter Telescope
issue directly. The state Board of Land
and Natural Resources and University
of Hawaii insist on allowing this venture
with a footprint of four football fields,
and a height of 18 stories to be built on
conservation-zone sacred Mauna Awakea.
UH is irresponsibly promoting TMT as
the world’s largest telescope and the tallest
building on the island while apologizing
for past negligent care-taking on the
mountain. Many at the university working
in conservation areas see this propossal
as a blatant contradiction. A criterion
required before construction is allowed on
this protected zone is “tolerating the least
degree of development” (Star-Advertiser).
As one of the 31 arrested April 2 as
a practitioner in the spirit of Aloha
Aina, we could not allow continued
desecration of the Mauna. We repeat, we
are not against science; our mountain
is just the wrong place for the TMT.
Moanikeala Akaka
Hilo
FBI owes the public answers about its planes
A vote for TPA is not a vote for Obama
GEORGE WILL |
THE WASHINGTON POST
EDITORIAL |
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE (TNS)
T
he FBI owes the
public answers
about its planes.
Confronted with
questions about low-
flying planes registered
to mysterious companies,
the FBI has admitted
it maintains a fleet of
aircraft, registered with
bogus names, that it uses
for surveillance without
warrants. It defends the
practice as necessary in its
efforts to keep Americans
safe. But Americans’ civil
liberties need safeguarding,
too, and the secret air
force sounds like more
unjustifiable overreach
by a federal agency.
The Associated Press
reported last week that it
has linked 50 airplanes
to the FBI, despite
registration under dummy
names such as FVX
Research, NBR Aviation
and PXW Services. Since
late April, the news
organization documented
more than 100 flights in
11 states, covering cities
and rural communities.
The secretive nature of
the program prevents
the public from knowing
what information the FBI
is gathering and what is
done with the pictures
and data it collects.
Sen. Chuck Grassley,
R-Iowa, has asked FBI
director James Comey Jr.
to explain the purpose of
the air fleet, as well as the
technological capabilities
of the planes, to the House
Judiciary Committee
by June 12. While
acknowledging the bureau
is known to use planes in
criminal investigations,
Grassley told reporters
he has concerns about
warrantless intrusion into
private and public space,
as well as the invention
of companies to hide
ownership of the planes.
Given Americans’
increasing concern about
Big Brother tactics in the
endless war on terror, the
AP report gives fresh cause
for worry. Sophisticated
technology that can help
keep Americans safe can
also erode fundamental
liberties. In short, even
watchdogs need watching.
The FBI may have very
good reasons for what
looks like unnecessary
deceit. Let’s hear them.
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