Hidden Agenda Toward A North American Union

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Hidden Agenda Toward a North American Union Tammy L. Bryant September 7, 2008

North American Union 2 Are the people of the world aware of the current situation in which they will find themselves concerning the unification of countries, areas, and continents? Do they realize the full implications and possible ramifications of such unification or integration of the area of the world in which they live? We are surrounded today in the world by globalization in many forms in social, economical and cultural venues. One example of such globalization is taking place on the North American continent without the approval, full knowledge, or in many cases awareness of the citizens it will affect. The government officials of the three countries involved seem to have a hidden agenda in order to effect the changes they desire. In fact, it is nothing more than creating a North American Union in the fashion, all be it altered, as the European Union was formed. Even though the North American Union (NAU) is purported to be for the good of the people on the North American continent, the current strategies by politicians are bypassing the elected officials negating the U.S. government which constitutionally is a government "for the people, by the people." Though the politicians are saying there is no such thing as a North American Union, the building of the North American community is in fact working toward such a goal. A “union” is simply an agreement or unity of interests or opinions and the act of joining together people or things to form a whole. The NAU consists of the three countries on the North American continent-Canada, the United States, and Mexico. The agreements made between the three countries call for open borders and free trade to promote economic and cultural integration.

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The photos of Henry Kissinger, President Clinton, Richard Hass, and Dr. Robert Pastor retrieved from (Greenley, 2007). The photo of the meeting in Waco is from The White House, News and Policies, March 28, 2005, whitehouse.gov. The photo of President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin was taken from peaceinspace.blogs.com. The photo of the ID card with the North Carolina hologram and the icon for the SPP is titled Sign of the Times by twotone666 on flicker.com.

These countries began unifying with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993. From that time to the present, the steady unification has had several definable goals which have been fostered by Dr. Robert Pastor, a co-chair of a special Task Force of the Council on Foreign Relations (Lamb, 2007). He has authored a report entitled “Building a North American Community” which sets out the goals which have been set by the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). •

Adopt common external tax

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Adopt a North American approach to regulation

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Establish a common security boarder by 2010

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Establish a North American Investment fund

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Establish a permanent tribunal for North American dispute resolution

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Hold an annual North American Summit meeting

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Establish minister-led working groups

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Create a North American Advisory Council

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Create a North American Inter-Parliamentary Council(Lamb, 2007)

Most people in all three countries are completely unaware of the political undercurrents forcing the unification. The integration has been done in slow steps so as to not alarm the public and raise opposition. This slow integration does not force the citizens of the U.S. to see the far reaching implications. Currently most of the integration has been focused on trade, the economy, and immigration due to NAFTA. The structure thus far has been set up by appointed officials who are listed as executive branch officials or public officials not on the governmental payroll. By being such, they can bypass congressional vote on their actions. Congressman Walter B. Jones stated, “My constituents and I are extremely concerned about this ‘partnership’ for many reasons. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly states that Congress – not the executive branch – has the power to ‘regulate commerce with foreign nations. Also, many SPP working group meetings are held in secret, and the public, the press and members of Congress have no opportunity to participate or conduct oversight” (FDCH Press Release, 2007,para 5). It is of utmost importance that people realize the extent of the integration of the three countries causing the identities to be merged into one union as the European Union has been. (Flag Image, www.unknownnews.org, 2008.) To gain momentum without opposition, several groups are implementing different types of steps to work toward this building of the “community.” As stated previously, the first step toward this building was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

North American Union 5 in 1993. Then Homeland Security began to advocate the Real ID Act to promote easier border crossings and more standardized identification standards. Now there is the Security and Prosperity Partnership recommending integrating the three countries. The Council on Foreign relations created a task force to report recommendations on how to proceed with the integration. The first recommendation is to have the governments work together with a common perspective rather than the traditional approach. The shared topics should include economic growth, law enforcement, energy security, regulatory policies, dispute resolution and continental defense. The CFR believes that North America should “rely more on the market and less on bureaucracy, more on pragmatic solutions to shared problems than on grand schemes of confederation or union. We must maintain respect for each other’s national sovereignty” (Manley, Aspe, Weld, d'Aquino, Rozental, & Pastor, 2005). The CFR recommends that the economic focus be on expansion of opportunities for all people in the three countries. Due to the recent employment problems in America, people are paying more attention to the immigration issue this poses. Unemployment is at an all time high due to the lessened restrictions at both ends of the U.S. border. Employment statistics since Employment Statistics Since NAFTA

NAFTA was CIVILIAN NON INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION OVER 14 YRS OF AGE

300000 250000

EMPLOYED

200000

instituted show that the population of the workforce is

150000 UNEMPLOYED 100000 50000

NOT IN LABOR FORCE

0 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005

going up and not compensating for the amount of jobs.

North American Union 6 This is shown by not only the increasing numbers of people in the workforce but those who are in the civilian count not in the labor force going up. Keep in mind these are only the numbers in thousands for people who are registered on a census with proper identification and visas to work in the country. (Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 1940-2007). More of the products of the two outer lying countries produce are brought into the U.S. for consumer purchase than U.S. created products being sold or exported. “Since NAFTA was approved, the United States has lost 3.1 million manufacturing jobs. More than 10 thousand illegal aliens now stream across our southern border every week” (FDCH News Release, 2007, para 6). Congressman Jones also states in the press release that the SPP appears to cast aside America’s sovereignty to combine the three countries. Many people who are against the integration point out that the integration could well kill the American economy (Wilkinson, 2008). It has even been bantered around to create a common monetary system similar to the “euro” called the “amero.” This would mean to combine the dollar’s worth with that of the peso. Over the course of time the peso has lost almost 80 percent of its net worth from the 1970’s to the present time. If we were to combine the U.S. currency with that of Mexico our country would be forced to bail out any monetary shortages on the part of the other countries in the community (The Right Side, 2007). The supposed goal is to balance out the workforce in the three countries, not to destroy the economy of the U.S. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has set certain goals to be worked toward to integrate the three countries which have been stated previously. The CFR wants to adopt a common external tariff to fund the governmental structure of the union.

North American Union 7 Establish a common security perimeter by the year 2010 to set the boundaries of the union for security and trade purposes. Establish a permanent tribunal for North American dispute resolution which constitutes a legislature branch that would override any of the three countries’ constitutions in favor of the laws set forth for the union to abide by as a whole. The holding of an annual North American summit between the heads of the three countries to discuss the progress of the integration, which have been going on for the past few years starting in Waco, TX in 2005. The CFR has proposed a non-elected executive branch set of ministers that would lead working groups within the structure of the governmental organization of the union. Toward the end of the integration it has been set as a goal to create a North American Advisory Council and a North American InterParliamentary group. Even Howard Phillips stated “behind closed doors, step by step, the leaders of Mexico, Canada, and the United States are setting the stage for, first, a North American Community and, ultimately, a North American Union (NAU), in which new transnational bodies would gain authority over our economy, our judiciary, and our lawmaking institutions” (Jasper, 2007). The integration seems to be speeding up rapidly in very recent times. The pathways have seemed to be cleared for many things to consecutively take place. The DHS is screaming for the states to implement the Real ID Act specifications for standardized identification by 2010. The government is moving forward with the building of the NAFTA superhighway despite many who oppose it. (Image, www.davidduke.com, 2008).

North American Union 8 The NAFTA superhighway if you will notice cuts virtually down the center of the United States. This opens the entire country to the other two. This superhighway is noted by critics to be a plan to create a massive new North American transportation and trade corridor system. This system has been designed to handle the looked forward to increase of Chinese and other traded products. According to plan, this corridor will allow Mexican freight drivers to transport goods faster using special designated lanes without being checked by U. S. Customs (Taylor, 2007). From one side of the U.S. to the other, groups are doing everything they can to stop the NAFTA Superhighway. While these groups are getting the point across to some Senators and Congressmen, others adamantly deny there is any governmental involvement. Evident to the contrary is that North American Super Corridor Coalition, or NASCO, is funded primarily from the Department of Transportation. In addition to this funding, congress has passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act (Taylor, 2007). All of these provide funding for transportation between Mexico and Canada. Several states have taken measures to block the highway being built (The North American, 2008). The ramifications are horrendous for the American citizen. There will be a virtual loss of border security due to the proposed free flow of traffic across the border. Instead of having custom checks, the imports will be inspected at the originating country and then not inspected until they are in Middle America (Taylor, 2007). The border security being stripped will only add to the illegal immigration problem. This will result in loss of jobs for American workers. Most unbelievable is the corridor will equal the width of four football fields. According to TxDOT nearly a million Texans will be displaced for the

North American Union 9 superhighway to be constructed, not to mention the other states the corridor will be built through. Governmental officials cannot deny a North American Union is being created simply by calling it by another name. The generalities of it are one in the same no matter what you label the eventual outcome. The United States of American has been founded on the principles of the people controlling the government, not the other way around. Government officials in the U.S. should not be allowed to bypass the Constitutional system set up by our forefathers by appointing executive branch ministers to further the unification despite what the American people want. The soldiers in the past have guaranteed us the right to have a voice by their shed blood on the battlefield. The citizens of the United States should honor that sacrifice and speak up to fight the integration of the three countries to ensure that our constitutional rights are not infringed upon. As a government for the people, by the people we have a right to say no.

North American Union 10 References Jasper, W. F. (2007, October 15). Continental Merger. The New American , pp. 9-12. Jones Voices Concern Over Partnership with Canada and Mexico, Opposes North American Union (2007). FDCH Press Releases, Retrieved July 18, 2008, from International Security and Counter Terrorism Reference Center database. Lamb, Henry (2007). North American Union: Fact or Fiction?. Ranch and Rural Living, 88(8). 3,16. Retrieved July 18, 2008, from ProQuest Central database (Document ID: 131972801). Manley, J. P., Aspe, P., Weld, W. F., d'Aquino, T. P., Rozental, A., & Pastor, R. A. (2005). Building a North American Community. United States: Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. North American Union Will Kill The Dollar; The Right Side. (Columnist). Mountain Mail (Socorro, NM) (July 26, 2007): NA. Retrieved July 28, 2008 from General OneFile via Gale http://find.galegroup.com (Document ID: CJ166856971) States Keep up the pressure against North American Integration. (Inside Track)(Brief arti

The Hidden Agenda of the North American Union le). The New American 24.9 (April 28, 2008): 9(1). Retrieved July 18, 2008 from General OneFile via Gale http:find/galegroup.com (Document ID: A178674409) Taylor, K. (2007, October 15). Express Route to Poverty. The New American , pp. 31-33. Wilkinson, Will. (Jan 9, 2008). Why Not a North American Union?. Retrieved July 18, 2008, from Google Scholar http://www.cato.org