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Jewish World Review Dec. 8, 1999 /29 Kislev, 5760

Chris Matthews

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Taking Buchananism to the streets


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THE TV PICTURES from Seattle offer the latest proof that, when it comes to the nightly TV news, ugly sells.

Build a globally competitive economy, as they've done in the state of Washington, and the story gets marooned in the financial pages. Chuck a rusty newspaper box through a Starbucks window, and you get your puss on Dan Rather.

This is the upside-down story of the past week's jamboree in Seattle. The mounted police, the swat teams in riot gear, the hot-dogging protester dodging rubber bullets, the smashed store windows, the looter heading off with his new television — all produced an irresistible portrait of late-20th century America. The environmentalists, pro-Tibet activists, labor unions and animal-rights folk had written and delivered their statement for the whole world to read: We, the people, oppose free trade.

The fact is we love it, as anyone visiting this country can see. We like going to stores that have every choice of clothing or technology or food or drink that pops up on the world market. We like going online to buy whatever we want at the cheapest price we can find, unfettered by any barrier whatsoever, whether it be by government or business.

We like the freedom to match wits with the world, to cut or reject any deal that gets put before us by whatever means.

And that overwhelmingly includes the people of the state of Washington. Eight of its nine members in the U.S. Congress voted for both the North American Free Trade Agreement and for GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The record is a surprise to no one. As anyone familiar with the Northwest knows, Washington is as much a trading state as its Pacific Rim counterpart, Japan.

This free-trade philosophy is showcased by Washington's three most famous brand names: Boeing, Starbucks and Microsoft.

Walk through the streets of Seattle on any week but this last and you capture the human culture that has arisen alongside such dynamic enterprises: mobile, excited, informal. Here you can spot a guy heading to work, not by his necktie — there are none — but by his Starbucks cup.

The president most connected to this modern way-of-life and most responsible for the bipartisan, free-trade spirit which so closely accompanies it, is William Jefferson Clinton.

"We cannot grow the American economy in the 21st century," he said in Seattle last week,
"unless we continue to sell more to a world that is prospering and that is more connected with everyone else in the world."

Anyone who protests this argument should pay heed to the alternative view put forward by Patrick J. Buchanan, running for the Reform Party's presidential nomination, and his new friends on the far, equally protectionist left.

Adorned in pinstripes and shined shoes, he speaks with the same nasty intimidation as the street tough who demands to squeegee your car window knowing full well, as you do yourself, that it's perfectly clean.

His troglodyte screeching provides the perfect background noise to the sound of metal news boxes crashing through Starbucks' windows.



JWR contributor Chris Matthews is the author of Hardball. and hosts a CNBC show of the same name. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

12/01/99:Why are we so obsessed with 'spin'?
12/01/99: Donald Trump, 'Sinatra of Steel'
11/29/99: Why AlGore will be our next president
11/23/99: After the fall
11/17/99: Our conveniently forgetful president
11/15/99: Next president: Male, WASP, self-selected
11/10/99: Backroom Bill
11/08/99: Please don't feed the 'pander bears'
11/03/99: Battle of the Bubba clones
11/01/99: Pat Buchanan, kamikaze candidate
10/27/99: The year of the woman... voter
10/25/99: The Curse of the Bubba
10/21/99: GOP gives Clinton his finest hour
10/18/99: Clinton's last hurrah
10/13/99: Rough seas for Capt. Ventura
10/11/99: Gore targets Bradley's strength
10/06/99: Bradley's got the right Rx
10/04/99: Buchanan, Churchill and Hitler
09/30/99: Who'll spin political gold in Golden State — Gore or Bradley?
09/27/99: Here's a millennial checklist for candidates
09/22/99: The biography battle
09/20/99: Buchanan's new book is a must-read
09/15/99: Don't rule out Beatty
09/13/99: The man with the sun on his face
09/08/99: W. vs. Jr. on dope and the draft
The FALN: Hillary's Willie Horton
08/26/99: Bill's guilt fuels Hill's race
08/25/99: The seemingly inexhaustible strength of America's free enterprise
08/23/99: GOP candidates are weak also-rans
08/16/99: Bubba on Bubba
08/11/99: Hillary's agonizing attempts to understand
08/09/99: With warm regards, Richard Nixon
08/04/99: Weicker: real third party is on the Left
08/02/99: Dubyah's last hangover
07/27/99: Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh; capitalism is gonna win

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