by Elizabeth Cable [courtesy of Blog for America]

Trade is an issue which, relative to more prominent issues, many do not feel strongly about. It is an issue upon which the mainstream candidates from each of the major parties agree, so it can not be used as an issue to inflame voters with partisanship and get them to go to the polls to vote against the opposition party. Trade is quite unlike the issues of abortion, or gay marriage, or the War in Iraq, in that respect. However, I believe that Trade is a very important issue which affects all of our lives here in the United States on a daily basis. Specifically, whether the United States assumes the policies of Free Trade or of Fair Trade.

Free Trade between countries is essentially when there are no restrictions whatsoever at their borders when it comes to trade. There are no tariffs, regulations, fees, etcetera. With Free Trade, trade is free and open between countries, and companies are allowed to ship their products across the border at very little cost. The argument for this is that it will raise the economic level of countries on both sides of the border. On the other side of the coin, there is Fair Trade. Fair Trade is basically the opposite of Free Trade. In Fair Trade, there are tariffs and regulations at the border. Trade is not open and free between countries. The argument for Fair Trade is that it will protect the workers on both sides of the border.

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by David Reiter [courtesy of Blog for America]

Thanks to all of you that made efforts to write and call your legislators to make paper ballots a reality.  Many election reform groups around the state, including volunteers from Florida DFA and DFA Miami, have been working tirelessly to make paper ballots a reality.  Many of us have been meeting with our legislators (over 40 meetings, myself :-)) to urge support of paper ballot legislation, some have written position papers to identify key provisions of the bill, and many more have written and called their Senators and Representatives on a daily basis to make fair elections a reality.

To sum up the key provisions of the bill that Governor Crist proffered, and is now on its way to his desk to be signed into law, below is a summary from the Florida Voters Coalition recent press release:

TALLAHASSEE: In a historic vote, the Florida House today unanimously passed CS/HB 537, already passed in the Senate, that provides almost all voters paper ballots in time for the 2008 Presidential election, and bans paperless DREs outright by 2012. The bill now goes to the Governor where he’s sure to sign it since it’s his initiative.