North American integration should be campaign issue

The upcoming congressional election has no shortage of campaign issues: Iraq, terrorism and border security, to name a few. One that has not hit the headlines recently is the trend toward North American integration that accelerated with the adoption of NAFTA. Almost entirely under the radar at this point, integration moves such as the proposed NAFTA superhighway and the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) have the greatest potential to change American life for the worse in the coming years. Voters would be well advised to examine each candidate's views on this topic.

For those who haven't heard about it yet, the NAFTA superhighway is to be a new network of many-laned roads between Mexico and Canada. The system is supposed to facilitate travel and trade among Mexico, Canada and the US. It would be largely financed and controlled by foreign consortia. "Border control" would be moved to points along the roads hundreds of miles inside the US. Foreign trucks would have few if any restrictions on access to the entire length and breadth of our country.

The SPP is a proposed "partnership" that would remove all barriers to trade and travel among the three countries. Presidents Bush, Fox and Martin agreed on March 23, 2003 AD to work toward "common borders" as well as integrated legal, regulatory and other systems. Since the US is in the middle of the three countries, common borders means border control in the south of Mexico and at ports, with the US/Mexico and US/Canada borders being virtually eliminated. Federal regulations would be "harmonized" (made compatible or equivalent) with those of Mexico and Canada, and it is inevitable that legislation would be promoted to do the same with the laws of the three countries.

There is a long list of reasons that this "regionalization" would be bad for Americans. Our roads would be full of low-paid Mexican truckers with sub-standard equipment, inadequate or no insurance, staying awake on uppers, and carrying who-knows-what. Our hospitals and other social services, close to being overwhelmed even now by the flood of indigent illegals, would be completely swamped. To the degree that our laws and regulations were changed to accommodate the merger, Americans would lose our self-government. The list of problems is endless.

But the worst problem in all of this is the low profile of the process. The NAFTA superhighway is being created in a patchwork fashion by building or extending various interstate highways. Without congressional authorization, executive branch employees participate in planning committees with Mexican and Canadian counterparts. It will be interesting to see how far the administration and its successors will go with all of this before seeking legislation to legitimize it.

Our Constitution provides processes for changing our system of government: congressional legislation, and for more fundamental changes, the amendment process. If we are to migrate from the federated constitutional republic that was created by our founders to some form of North American social democracy, the legitimate way to do so is through legislation and amendments, all of which can be fully and openly debated. Of course, the path chosen by Bush, his predecessors and the movers and shakers they represent is intended to move in directions that are unlikely to stand public scrutiny and debate. Sooner or later, Congress will be presented with a functioning structure that they will be expected to rubber- stamp. History suggests that they will do so with minimal resistance.

Not everyone in Congress is willing to look the other way while the administration moves to change our form of government. Representatives Goode, Paul, Jones, and Tancredo have introduced a resolution "Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should not engage in the construction of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Superhighway System or enter into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada." For the text of the resolution, search http://thomas.loc.gov for "H. CON. RES. 487".

The resolution is amazingly restrained, given the severity of the offense. Those who are working to implement the SPP are subverting our government by trying to bypass the Constitution. What is really needed is a congressional investigation of whatever public or secret agreements have been made, and of whatever actions have been taken to implement such agreements. Any congressional candidate who will not get behind such an investigation does not deserve our votes.