"If You Can't Win... Cheat"

By: Jim Hightower

One vote. That's the margin by which lobbyists for corporate globaloneyists literally squeezed out a victory in the House of Representatives over "We the People".

The vote was on handing "fast track" authority to the President, letting him arrange even more trade scams like NAFTA behind closed doors, then railroad them through Congress. It's a total abdication of Congress' responsibility to provide a check on executive power and assure that workers, farmers, the environment, and our people's sovereignty are not trampled by corporate greed.

The pressure to pass fast track was white hot. This is because the lobbyists for global corporations saw the current war mentality in Washington as a slick opportunity for them to slap a patriotism label on their trade scam and - choo-choo cha-boogie! - ride it right through Congress.

Squadrons of corporate lobbyists stormed the Capitol. Bush himself spent three days rounding up votes for his corporate buddies. America's high-tech giants played the money card, telling members that this vote would count twice when deciding, which members would receive campaign cash from them. Then, House Speaker Dennis Hastert wrapped this piece of special-interest trash in Old Glory, declaring that a vote against it would "undercut the President" in the war against terrorism.

Yet, even with these bullying tactics, they still came up one vote short. The clock ticked to zero, time for voting expired, and fast track was defeated 215 to 214. But the corporate credo is: If you can't win... cheat. So Speaker Hastert simply refused to gavel the vote closed, while his Republican henchmen surrounded Rep. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and browbeat him until he finally agreed to switch his "no" vote to "yes". Then Hastert quickly pounded his gavel, handing the lobbyists their rigged, one-vote "victory".

This is Jim Hightower saying... This is one of the most shameful votes in House history. To know how your own Congress critter performed, check out this web site: