Text of the "Just Say No" Ad

(Revised Ad Text)

Just Say "No"!

Dear Members of the United States Congress,

Last November U.S. voters raised loud voices of discontent with the economy and Mr. Bush's trade policies. These voices demand a rethinking of our trade policies.

Although Congressional appetite for the current trade model is shifting, and the Trade Promotion Authority (Fast Track) expired on June 30th, the Administration still expects Congressional approval of all four pending Free Trade Agreements: Peru, Colombia, Panama and South Korea.

These agreements, although they have been ‘tweaked' by the Democratic leadership, are essentially "more of the same." This means more loss of livelihoods both here and in those countries, and more ceding of power to corporate interests with chapters on investment and agriculture which are the same or worse than those in NAFTA and CAFTA.

We do not accept the attempt by the Democrats to "humanize" the agreements with minor changes. The "fixes" do not remedy the deep failure of the current model or address the need for a new trade model.

We urge you to ignore the accusations of protectionism being made by the Bush Administration and the office. It is clear that they are attempting to generate the same pressure that they used to ram through the deeply flawed DR-CAFTA agreement.

We need a new trade policy - not a minor re-packaging of the same failed agenda.

If these trade agreements come up for a vote before the August recess - keep it simple:

Just Say "No"!