i haven't said much about the new nafta.

there hasn't been much to say.

where is the united states senate on this issue? was there even a debate at all? they seem more interested in the political theatre around trump's impeachment process, and that's a derogation of responsibility on a level that we perhaps haven't seen in quite a while. for a trade deal like this to go through without so much as a serious debate is outrageous.

where is bernie sanders, specifically? he's supposed to be representative of the left opposition to this deal, he's supposed to be writing and proposing amendments and filibustering votes and generally being a problem in the senate, and he seems to have been out partying with cardi b, instead. maybe he voted against it, but that's just a cop out. this was probably the last and best opportunity he'll have to substantively affect trade policy for the rest of his life and he completely squandered it on a clearly failing presidential bid. it's just a reminder of the extreme limitations of bourgeois politics; this was something he could have made a serious, concrete difference on, and he didn't even try.

how many amendments, bernie? zero?

i miss the old bernie....this new bernie sucks....

....and the new nafta still sucks, too, which is why it was so important to actually get some amendments on the floor. 

so, i was expecting this to be a lengthy process, with people like sanders and maybe rand paul dragging it out to try to squeeze the last bits out of it. instead, it's passed without so much as a discussion. i guess i put too much faith in the system, didn't i? i probably should have known better.

i don't see any real point in repeating the same analysis that everybody else has - there do appear to be some "moderate improvements" (i believe that's the talking point) in the bill, enough that you can't really argue that you shouldn't vote for it, but it is still essentially the same piece of awful legislation, and should still be opposed for most of the same reasons. so, while i would have supported amending the deal as best as i could if i was in the senate (an opportunity we don't really have up in canada), i'm still in favour of abolishing nafta, which has been my position since i understood what it was in roughly 1995. within a few months, i'll probably have forgotten that it was ever renegotiated at all.

and, you can expect me to keep calling it nafta, too.