I'm thinking of adding Charley Rangel to my small but elite list of people I disagree with [mostly] but respect. Any objections?
WSJ:
July 20, 1999
Charlie's Angels
Every so often in Washington a fight separates the men from the confidence men. Democrat Charlie Rangel of New York has just performed such a public undressing of Jesse Jackson Jr., and the impoverished nations of Africa will be better off for it.
The event was a rare bipartisan triumph these days, the African Growth and Opportunity Act. It passed the House last Friday, 234-163, with an ideological coalition spanning Tom DeLay and Henry Waxman. But the victory would never had taken place if Mr. Rangel, the Harlem liberal, hadn't stood up to the phony moralizing of young Mr. Jackson.
Recall President Clinton's trip last year to Africa, with none other than Jesse Jackson Sr. along for the moral posturing. We were all told about the "new era" of free trade and American concern for the Forgotten Continent. So Mr. Clinton proposed to cut U.S. tariffs and quotas on African goods, conservative Republicans agreed, Mr. Rangel rallied most of the Black Caucus--and the bill whisked through Congress, right?
That would make too much sense. Instead, enter the Self-Interest Coalition of Big Labor and American textile companies. They know they can't defeat African free-trade with nothing. So they organized behind the younger Mr. Jackson's alternative African bill based on the old, discredited idea of foreign-aid socialism, to the tune of $784 million a year from U.S. taxpayers.
This is bad enough. But Mr. Jackson also played the not-so-subtle race card by calling the Rangel bill the "Africa Recolonization Act," and equating modern commerce with slavery. No matter that Mr. Rangel had every African nation favoring his bill, while Mr. Jackson had financier Roger Milliken and the American Textile Manufacturers Institute backing his. Who's exploiting whom?
Friday's vote also exposed who really believes their rhetoric about helping the poor. Among 99 Democrats voting no, John Lewis of Georgia and Michigan's David Bonior have made a career of advertising their social consciences. But when it comes to helping poor Africans, they prefer to pad Mr. Milliken's profit margins. Mr. Rangel and Louisiana's William Jefferson deserve credit for bringing along at least 98 Democrats, including Minority Leader Dick Gephardt.
Among Republicans, the vote was 136-63, with about half of the nays coming from textile states. The good news here is that this means the House GOP isn't nearly as protectionist as advertised. Only about 30 House Republicans can fairly be called part of the Buchanan Caucus--among them California's Dana Rohrabacher and Indiana's Mark Souder. These Republicans like capitalism, except when it's practiced by foreigners.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where it lacks a champion of Mr. Rangel's influence. The protectionists are counting on Carolina Senators Jesse Helms and Fritz Hollings to bury it. A March 1998 memo from Mr. Milliken also specifically mentions Majority Leader Trent Lott's "shipbuilding subsidies legislation" as a target of horse-trading possibilities.
It'd be nice to think that Mr. Lott (and Senate Finance Chairman Bill Roth) would be able to rise above his parochial state interests and commit an act of statesmanship by leading this bill through the Senate. We'll be watching.
|
