[Vox Populism]
I think this may rank up there with the fluoridation and New World Order conspiracies.
I live in Austin, Texas, where Interstate 35, the major north/south artery in the state, runs right through the middle of my fair city. Parts of the highway have seemingly always been under construction. The exploding Sun Belt populations have required more lanes, bypasses, loops and alternative toll roads along its length in the state. Increased trade, partially from NAFTA, has added to the strain even more. I can remember safety concerns about Mexican registered trucks in the US and introducing tandem rigs on roads not built to handle them. But these seem like normal growing pains, no? So I thought until I stumbled upon the Great NAFTA Superhighway Conspiracy.
I live in Austin, Texas, where Interstate 35, the major north/south artery in the state, runs right through the middle of my fair city. Parts of the highway have seemingly always been under construction. The exploding Sun Belt populations have required more lanes, bypasses, loops and alternative toll roads along its length in the state. Increased trade, partially from NAFTA, has added to the strain even more. I can remember safety concerns about Mexican registered trucks in the US and introducing tandem rigs on roads not built to handle them. But these seem like normal growing pains, no? So I thought until I stumbled upon the Great NAFTA Superhighway Conspiracy.
My first exposure came from Congressman Ron Paul, internet darling and Republican candidate for the Presidential nomination. On his official governmental site he warns:
This superhighway would connect Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City. Offshoots would connect the main artery to the west coast, Florida, and northeast. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines, fiber-optic cable lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines running alongside.
This will require coordinated federal and state eminent domain actions on an unprecedented scale, as literally millions of people and businesses could be displaced. The loss of whole communities is almost certain, as planners cannot wind the highway around every quaint town, historic building, or senior citizen apartment for thousands of miles.
Perhaps a little worrying, but where is the plot? The congressman elaborates:
The real issue is national sovereignty. Once again, decisions that affect millions of Americans are not being made by those Americans themselves, or even by their elected representatives in Congress. Instead, a handful of elites use their government connections to bypass national legislatures and ignore our Constitution-- which expressly grants Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade.
The ultimate goal is not simply a superhighway, but an integrated North American Union--complete with a currency, a cross-national bureaucracy, and virtually borderless travel within the Union. Like the European Union, a North American Union would represent another step toward the abolition of national sovereignty altogether.
Ah, the dreaded North American Union. And the congressman is not alone at the barricades. Phyllis Schlafly at the Eagle Forum joins the fight by taking on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SSP) and its murky part in the conspiracy:
In response to recent articles in conservative publications about the sovereignty, freedom and economic dangers that will result from President Bush creating the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) in Waco in March 2005, the SPP has issued an unconvincing rebuttal.
This SPP document starts by declaring that "our three great nations share a belief in freedom, economic opportunity, and strong democratic institutions." That's false; Mexico is a corrupt country where a few families control all the wealth while the rest of the people are kept in abject poverty with no hope of economic opportunity.
The document states that SPP's mission is to make "our businesses more competitive in the global marketplace." That's globalist doubletalk which means producing U.S. goods with cheap foreign labor, thereby destroying the U.S. middle class.
The document states that SPP wasn't "signed" by Bush at Waco. But when Bush went to Cancun in March 2006, he proclaimed the first anniversary of whatever he had agreed to in Waco in 2005, and he sent Michael Chertoff to Ottawa to take "an important first step" toward whatever Bush did or didn't sign in Waco.
The document denies that SPP's working groups are secret, but SPP won't release the names of who is serving on them. The document denies that SPP will "cost U.S. taxpayer money" because SPP is using "existing budget resources" (no doubt coming from the fairy godmother).
Even the grizzled conspiracy veterans of the John Birch Society, ever vigilant against traitors, weigh-in praising the efforts of the Texas Legislature to slow the Trans-Texas Corridor:
The Texas legislation has important ramifications for the rest of the nation as well. As the current special issue of The New American magazine thoroughly explains, the Trans-Texas Corridor is part of the physical infrastructure that is being built as part of plans to deepen the integration of Mexico, the United States, and Canada in a North American economic community that is a precursor to further union.
Stopping the construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor is an important step in the ongoing effort to keep America free and independent.
And of course, a simple Google search will turn up numerous other examples from the echo chamber. But if any of these concerned citizens had ever spent as much time in I-35 rush hour traffic jams as I have, perhaps they too would welcome our new NAFTA Overlords...
[Vox Populism]