Get in Those Last Minute Votes

by Zarah Patriana

Published December 31, 2008 @ 02:04PM PT

At 11:59 tonight -- right before 2009 rolls in for us Pacific Standard Time dwellers -- voting will be closed for the first round of Ideas for Change in America competition. The Ideas for Change in America competition has asked citizens to air their concerns and speak out for the change they want to see take place with the Obama Administration.

In the Fair Trade category, the idea currently at first place comes from Politics and Economics blogger, Keith Rouda who is calling to Replace Free Trade with Fair Trade. A blurb from his idea:

Free trade creates a global "race to the bottom" as countries look to increase market share by lowering costs... lowering wages, lowering safety, lowering taxes that are used for legitimate purposes, lowering environmental protection, etc.

Switching to a Fair Trade mentality would still allow uninhibited trade but tarrifs would level the playing field between nations that invest a lot in "responsible regulation" and nations that cut corners or just plain don't care about their people.

This change in approach would turn the tables and create a race to the top!  Nations that provide the best consumer protections, the best quality and purity assurances, the best worker safety, the best environmental protections would become the most competitive.

Nations that cut corners and opt not to invest in worker safety, fair wages, environmental protection, education, healthcare, etc. would lose the pricing advantages those decisions give them today.

Similar to the idea I had put forward to Challenge the Free Trade Model / Reform Free Trade Agreements. It's time to challenge the Free Trade model and to rewrite the trade rules and see to it that there is a global economic integration that values workers' rights, fair trade and environment over the profits of large transnational corporations.

Here's the breakdown of how the competition works:

• First round voting will close at midnight PST on December 31;
• The top 3 vote-receiving ideas for each cause will qualify for the final round.  We will email the users who submitted each idea on Jan 1 and encourage them to edit/strengthen their language before the beginning of the final round if we think their idea could be made more clear/powerful.  (We may also make specific suggestions for edits on a case-by-case basis.)
• Final round voting begins on Monday, January 5 and ends at 5pm PST on Thursday, January 15;
• The top 10 ideas will be announced at an event we are co-hosting at the National Press Club with the Case Foundation on Friday, January 16.  We will then recruit a formal nonprofit sponsor for each winning idea and work with MySpace and our other partners to help support each nonprofit's efforts at starting a national advocacy campaign to translate each idea into actual policy.

So, rock in those last minutes votes and get those ideas for change in.