G8 Summit in Sea Island

Maybe someone here can tell me if I am a) crazy or b) an ******* for thinking this, but the people that protest the G8 summit and other things like it really piss me off. Why are they protesting the dominance of the industrialized world? If the US, EU, and Japan didn't dominate the world and exploit the third world, these protesters (and the rest of us) would be living at the same standard as those poor third world people they want to "save".

It seems that its full of irony given that these people are protesting the very things that have made us a rich country. Perhaps I'll make the drive down to Sea Island and counter protest in favor of western/industrial power and domination. Its benefited us for decades, so why not keep it up...

Any thoughts?

[blackmercedes]

We're not protesting the dominance of the industrialized world. We're protesting the fact that elected goverments have had their power diminished and placed in the hands of non-elected trade tribunials that make arbitrary decisions on the laws of nations.

If you Yanks don't like protesting, you have short memories for your own history. Seems like 1776 was a good year for protesting...

The freedom to protest and take action against our own government is one of those little things that contribute greatly to the overall freedom of our nations. Would be as much fun to live in a police state, even if we still had all the money? Doubt it...

Perhaps I am misunderstanding the reasons for the protests. There is no trouble with protesting, it is something that is key to our country and that needs to be preserved.

These trade tribunals are not elected, but aren't the representatives from each country carrying out the will of the elected government in each country? Its not as if renegades from each country nominate themselves to represent their country (right?).

[blackmercedes]

Originally posted by AndrewK
... but aren't the representatives from each country carrying out the will of the elected government in each country?

No. They are nothing more than "industry representatives" that are to "uphold and enforce" trade pacts. These trade pacts are ambigious in that they attempt to predict the future and are placed above the laws of the nations involved. Suppose we enact a law in our nation to serve the people of the nation. Non-elected individuals, mostly from other nations, decide if that law will be allowed to stand. As an example, in Canada we wished to ban MTBE from gasoline. We, as a nation, made a law that should be allowed to stand. The law was not designed to punish one gasoline wholesaler over another, but applied equally to all. The WTO ruled against us, and not only did we have to strike downa law designed to stop people from being exposed to a cancer-causing agent, but we had to pay a fine for daring to make such a law.

People like myself are seen as anti-capitalist folks that want nothing more than to destroy our standard of living. Nothing is further from the truth. We are strong nationalists that believe that democracy should grow stronger over time, not weaker. Business is not the driver of our nation. People are. Our capitalist system is based on the ideal that we use a capitalist system to supply the economic needs of the people, not the other way around. We wish to be able to have the freedom to operate our nation as we see fit. If an international firm wishes to withdraw from our market because of a environment not suited to their business, that is their decision. Forcing us to alter our society to suit their needs is not right in the eyes of those that favour the power of democracy over technocracy.

Well, John I have to completely agree with you. I suppose my beef was not at all with protesters like yourself, but more along the lines of a classmate who is going down to protest. Her motivation was based on contesting the "third world oppression" carried out by the G8 and other wealthy nations. Maybe this is heartless and cold, but I do not see why industrialized nations should not pursue policies that are in their best economic interest, even if it is not beneficial to developing nations.

I agree that it is not desirable to have non-elected bodies controlling important policy especially when they are comprised of industry representatives. I did not know this and it certainly changed my outlook on these organizations.