*** Washington State residents: The time is NOW! ***
Contact Senators Murray and Cantwell:
http://www.murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contactme
http://www.cantwell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-maria
For Patty Murray, choose "Trade"; for Maria Cantwell, choose "Economy & Jobs" or "Labor".
Tell them to vote NO on the TPA ("fast track"
.
Let them know we care about the welfare of the entire country, not just our state, and they should as well.
(I'm being generous in making the assumption that they believe the TPP will be good for their constituents and not just their big donors.)
Here's what I said:
I am extremely disappointed that you have been siding with Republicans on this critical issue. If you help pass the TPA, I will never again vote for you. I'll be generous in assuming you think you have your constituents in mind here and not your big donors, but this trade pact affects the entire country and not just Washington state, and you are a U.S. senator, not a state senator. Like me, you should care about the welfare of the entire country. If you think the TPP will benefit Washington workers, but will hurt those in most other states, you should oppose it. I strongly feel that this is the case, and I'm not even certain that it will benefit our state. How can I be? I'm not allowed to know what's in it. Gee, I wonder why. But I know most Republicans support it - enough to side with Obama on it - and that tells me all I really need to know.
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Feel free to critique what I said and/or share what you said (or would say) for those who may not know what to write.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Good job!
As your constituent, I am writing to ask that you vote AGAINST Trade Promotion Authority ("Fast Track" . While I recognize that the President is leaning hard on members of the Democratic Party to try to secure such authority, I remind you that this authority would extend to the next President as well. Would you trust Jeb Bush or Mitt Romney, for example, with this authority? I sure would not.
Moreover, even President Obama insists on hiding details of the trade agreements he is attempting to negotiate, namely the Trans-Pacific Partnership, from the American public. What little we know comes from leaks, and what has been leaked is plenty damning enough.
Trade Promotion Authority opens the door to corporations suing the American people in secret tribunals for passing commonsense pro-worker laws--a staple of the Democratic Party platform--such as increasing the minimum wage or extending overtime protections to more workers, because such corporations might lose "expected" profits. Corporations are indeed people, my friend!
At this point, I would like to remind your office that I vote in every election in which I receive a ballot. For years, Democrats have counted on the two-party oligopoly to keep labor under the big tent, while repeatedly abandoning labor in critical Congressional votes. However, I am not afraid to willfully undervote my ballot should I feel my interests as a voter go unrepresented in DC.
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I know the threat of undervoting is probably going to get me flamed, but Democratic politicians must learn that they should have our backs if they want us to have theirs. And yes, I remember the 2000 election well. I know the consequences well as 2004 was the first election I was old enough to vote (technically November 2003 but at that point I wasn't sure I met residency requirements to register).
Hell, look what happened to Hillary in 2008. I voted for Obama in the primary, because I did not trust Hillary, and President Obama, for all his successes against impossible odds elsewhere (i.e. Obamacare, for which I am grateful), is presently squandering my trust over TPP and the surveillance state.
Pols wonder why they get shellacked in the midterms. I won't disengage from voting entirely but politicians need to be told in no uncertain terms WHY I'm considering withholding my vote or I may as well not exist to them.
