The Myth of the NAFTA Superhighway

[Toro]

Or, How Conspiracy Theories/Mass Hysterias Get Started

When completed, the highway will run from Mexico City to Toronto, slicing through the heartland like a dagger sunk into a heifer at the loins and pulled clean to the throat. It will be four football fields wide, an expansive gully of concrete, noise and exhaust, swelled with cars, trucks, trains and pipelines carrying water, wires and God knows what else. Through towns large and small it will run, plowing under family farms, subdevelopments, acres of wilderness. Equipped with high-tech electronic customs monitors, freight from China, offloaded into nonunionized Mexican ports, will travel north, crossing the border with nary a speed bump, bound for Kansas City, where the cheap goods manufactured in booming Far East factories will embark on the final leg of their journey into the nation's Wal-Marts.

And this NAFTA Superhighway, as it is called, is just the beginning, the first stage of a long, silent coup aimed at supplanting the sovereign United States with a multinational North American Union.

Even as this plot unfolds in slow motion, the mainstream media are silent; politicians are in denial. Yet word is getting out. Like samizdat, info about the highway has circulated in niche media platforms old and new, on right-wing websites like WorldNetDaily, in the pages of low-circulation magazines like the John Birch Society's The New American and increasingly on the letters to the editor page of local newspapers.

"Construction of the NAFTA highway from Laredo, Texas to Canada is now underway," read a letter in the February 13 San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "Spain will own most of the toll roads that connect to the superhighway. Mexico will own and operate the Kansas City Smart Port. And NAFTA tribunal, not the U.S. Supreme Court, will have the final word in trade disputes. Will the last person please take down the flag?" There are many more where that came from. "The superhighway has the potential to cripple the West Coast economy, as well as posing an enormous security breach at our border," read a letter from the January 7 San Francisco Chronicle. "So far, there has been no public participation or debate on this important issue. Public participation and debate must begin now."

In some senses it has. Prompted by angry phone calls and e-mail from their constituents, local legislators are beginning to take action. In February the Montana state legislature voted 95 to 5 for a resolution opposing "the North American Free Trade Agreement Superhighway System" as well as "any effort to implement a trinational political, government entity among the United States, Canada, and Mexico." Similar resolutions have been introduced in eighteen other states as well as the House of Representatives, where H. Con Res. 40 has attracted, as of this writing, twenty-seven co-sponsors. Republican presidential candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire now routinely face hostile questions about the highway at candidate forums. Citing a spokesperson for the Romney campaign, the Concord Monitor reports that "the road comes up at town meetings second only to immigration policy."

Grassroots movement exposes elite conspiracy and forces politicians to respond: It would be a heartening story but for one small detail.

There's no such thing as a proposed NAFTA Superhighway.

Though opposition to the nonexistent highway is the cause célèbre of many a paranoiac, the myth upon which it rests was not fabricated out of whole cloth. Rather, it has been sewn together from scraps of fact.

... continued

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/hayes

 

[triedit]

If real, it should have been routed to Calgary. They could use the workers.

 

[normbc9]

My question is ,"Where is the outrage of the affected citizwens of the US?" About 22% of the skilled worker jobs have been moved off shore and the replavcements so highly touted are nothing moire than minimum wage with almost no benefits and still a silence in the US about this whole NAU proposal which is now being implemented one step at a time behind closed dooors in the US Congress. When I wrote a letter to my Congressman last year his abswer was that he did oppose the whole theory but the work was so secretive that he feared the thing would take place, "One inch at a time with the theory that Inch by Inch, anything is a cinch." That is scary. I really hiope there is a vocal group opposing the project in Canada. Mexico would love to see this happen. How do we related the Canadian or US dollar to the Peso? How do we merge our Educational, Judicial, Military, Penal and Polictical systems? How do we all maintain our sovereignty? Many in Europe are not satisfied with the EU and if they could vote again would turn it down. Tbey are now finding out it only increases the gap between the shrinking middle class and the very wealthy.

 

[Toro]

There's no outrage because its not happening.

 

[Karlin]

Ya butt.

Regional regulations will all be 'illegal' if the SPP is enacted. We will have to conform to the agenda of the SPP, which is to "harmonise regulations" - and that is not in dispute, thats the wording they use.

Here are three articles that shed a little light on the SPP tactics, one of which is to "reduce the number of players so we can control them better". REducing North America to one political body will help them a lot, but it won't be to our benefit. The Dalia Lama wisely pointed out that REGIONAL political powers are what helps the people the most, but broader control helps the elite wealthy people control the people.

It will not be to the benefit of ordinary Canadians to lose control of water, of environmental regulations, or even the color of margerine. Thats right - its all about margerine - Quebec chooses to not let margering be colored like butter, to protect butter producers and the public who could be fooled into thinking that margerine is a good choice for spreads.
[margerine is notoriously unhealthy with trans fats and hydrogination]
[ya ya, I know you still eat it, TORO].

to repeat a good warning-
Regional regulations will all be 'illegal' if the SPP is enacted. We will have to conform to the agenda of the SPP, which is to "harmonise regulations" - and that is not in dispute, thats the wording they use.


-------- links and article on SPP -
Where's the transparency in the 'Security' and 'Prosperity' Partnership?
http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=4024

the formula for producing the Amero [currency to replace the dollar and peso]

http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=4017

2006 meeting in Banff - Frmr Prem Lougheed was one of "top 3 hosts"

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/September2006/280906confab.htm

 

[s243a]

To the original poster: Are you saying that there is no highway they are referring to as the NAFTA superhighway or just that it doesn’t extend as far from Mexico as some have reported?

 

[TenPenny]

It will not be to the benefit of ordinary Canadians to lose control of water, of environmental regulations, or even the color of margerine. Thats right - its all about margerine - Quebec chooses to not let margering be colored like butter, to protect butter producers and the public who could be fooled into thinking that margerine is a good choice for spreads.
[margerine is notoriously unhealthy with trans fats and hydrogination]

I'm curious about what decade you're living in, because Quebec has had coloured margarine for quite some time now. And to make it sound like it was to protect some mom-and-pop farmers is way out to lunch, the dairy industry in Quebec is all BIG BUSINESS.

 

[Toro]

To the original poster: Are you saying that there is no highway they are referring to as the NAFTA superhighway or just that it doesn’t extend as far from Mexico as some have reported?

There is no planned highway.

 

[Zzarchov]

That is silly.

There is a planned highway, which is a streamlined way to ship goods to the US from China without using expensive unionized port labour in the US, and instead offload in Mexico and ship to wherever it needs to go.


The question is, has anyone with any clout backed this plan?

There are plans for a US invasion of Canada too, but its a formality in place since the 20's and no one in their right mind is going to act on it.

To claim "there is no planned highway" is mad though, if no one else, the conspiracy theorists have laid out a pretty good plan.

 

[YoungJoonKim]

If U.S./Canadian/Mexican government officially declares this, I swear, I will start revolution.
Not literally hehe

 

[Karlin]

a VERY GOOD EXAMPLE

Ok, you got me on the details but the point is that our regulations over corporate misbehaviors and envirnmental destruction will be much less rigourous under the SPP agreements.

Industry determines what the EPA [USA regulators] does - DO WE WANT THAT SITUATION FOR CANADA'S REGULATORY BODIES? [worse that it allready is].

-
In fact, I just read a VERY GOOD EXAMPLE:
EPA GROWING MORE DEPENDENT ON CORPORATE RESEARCH PACTS
http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=905

The EPA would regulate air quality , for example, but when its budget is slashed under the Bush regime, then it depends on money from corporate sources and then the work they do seems to be reasearch for new products and not protection of people's health [Chinese products, eg] or envirnmental protections.

Here are some projects [from the link] that the EPA is doing with corporate grants:
* “gene chip technology identifying chemicals that might interfere with reproduction and development of wildlife”;
* identify visual function side effects reported in human subjects treated with potential drugs under development”;
* “development of an advanced hydrostatic transmission for use on large vehicles.”

Thats not catching products that are dangerous, and it is not monitoring carbon output from industry, or watching for toxic dumping.

Industry determines what the EPA does - DO WE WANT THAT FOR CANADA'S REGULATORY BODIES?
[Did I repEAT MYSELF]

 

[Toro]

That is silly.

There is a planned highway, which is a streamlined way to ship goods to the US from China without using expensive unionized port labour in the US, and instead offload in Mexico and ship to wherever it needs to go.


The question is, has anyone with any clout backed this plan?

There are plans for a US invasion of Canada too, but its a formality in place since the 20's and no one in their right mind is going to act on it.

To claim "there is no planned highway" is mad though, if no one else, the conspiracy theorists have laid out a pretty good plan.

Perhaps some group planned it, but so what? There is no plan by the government either to build or approve it, so its irrelevant.

Anybody can have a plan for anything. Doesn't mean its credible though.

 

[thomaska]

This is no where near as secret as the chunnel between Bush's ranch in Texas and Haifa, Israel, whereby we smuggle palestinian babies to our embryonic stem cell research facilities, that Halliburton will soon be running....

 

[normbc9]

Karlins points are well taken. I'm a former military officer and I used to watch some very unusual happenings behind closed doors when I had a short Embassy Security Duty stint. At a time when tensions were very high we were paying for the training of some very highly placed military officials of some third world countries who had active street demonstrations taking place burning US flags. The one thing that always got my attention was the levels of questionable moral turpitude of the worlds top level Embassy staffs. That group is a class all by itself and they all have an unusual life style too. By any name it is called (NAU, SPP) this entire movement is bankrolled by some very big international names who all stand to propser hugely from ths if it does become a reality. The middle class financial situation will degrade again and those who are working actively for this to occur don't care one bit about the outcome. All they want is more money, power and position that it would bring to them.

 

[TenPenny]

Well, there was a 'NAFTA Railway', which was a marketing partnership between TFM, KCS, and CN. But then KCS bought out TFM, and they market themselves as the 'NAFTA Railway', because they haul automobiles from the plants in Mexico up to the US, and forward them on to Canada.

Yawn.

 

[Curiosity]

Probably a Calderon 'appeasement'. Seems the new presidente is upset with the U.S. and it's tentative and imaginary fences. The global community love to see the U.S. upset - and Mexican migration made even more easy will do it.

There is now and always will be a highway - Mexicans don't have cars - they usually walk wherever they are going to pay coyotes huge sums of money to get them to their destination (some alive - some not).

I read there is a large migration farther north to Canadian destinations. Habla Espanol?

 

[Niflmir]

You really should ignore things like this.

This story is little more than a propaganda leak from the SPP. If you recall the time around the announcement of NAFTA, you will remember that there were many false "Conspiracy theories" floating around regarding its extent and purposes. It is now known that many of these conspiracy theories were created by the pro-NAFTA media and organizations in an attempt to demonize opposition.

I am not even in the public relations sector and I can see the genius of creating wingnut opponents. You want to pass legislation which is detrimental to the majority and beneficial only to corporate elite. So you need to pull the wool over the eyes of the majority. So you create a whole bunch of false extreme conspiracy views, make the public focus on those ludicrous views and quietly pass the legislation while the public argues over the false information.

Alternatively, simply hire groups to be pro-legislation. Make them larger in number, louder in chants, and ensure that they are at the forefront in demonstrations.

That this sort of thing is done by the government is well know. Simply read the presidential advance manual. Also, recall that our Prime Minister released a booklet to his committee MP's on how to stall the democratic process to eliminate the ability of the majority opposition to advance motions.

If you do not think that the SPP is doing this, take a look at their webpage. Notice how vague their intentions are. Notice how precisely they lay out the myths. Why would you ever define something by what it isn't? Propaganda reasons: you don't want people to know what you are actually doing.

Notice how little public involvement has gone into the SPP. Notice how the only members on the comittee are CEO's. NAFTA was passed despite widespread public opposition. If anything we should be taking back some of the powers that we renounced to corporations, not giving them more.

Security: make it harder for people to cross borders.
Prosperity: make it easier for corporations to exploit populations which are not protected by labor laws. Force governments to regulate markets to ensure monopolies.

Don't let them pull the wool over your eyes Toro, the SPP is very real, the labor movement knows better than what is posted in thenation.com. I am opposed to the SPP for what it is, not for what that garbage would have me believe.

 

[MikeyDB]

Whether myth or fantasy conjecture, NAFTA and every dynamic involving "trade" with America is beyond the single digit IQ's of Canadian politicians. Mulroney sold us a pig in a poke and Stephen "I wannabe a Yank" is following in goosestep to the cadence of the corporate machine.

America has realized that everyone has their "price". While Bush and the satellite office of the Carlyle Group currently ensconced on Pennsylvania Avenue blame Iran for weapons proliferation in Iraq, little mention is made of the 250,000 AK47's "lost" by the Pentagon....the idea that Iran shouldn't have nuclear capability while Israel has isn't lost on anyone but Stephen Harper who thinks if he struts a few baby ice-breakers through the Northwest passage that anyone will take Canadian sovereignty seriously...

It's all "bidness" dontcha know....

 

[Niflmir]

Whether myth or fantasy conjecture, NAFTA and every dynamic involving "trade" with America is beyond the single digit IQ's of Canadian politicians. Mulroney sold us a pig in a poke and Stephen "I wannabe a Yank" is following in goosestep to the cadence of the corporate machine.

America has realized that everyone has their "price". While Bush and the satellite office of the Carlyle Group currently ensconced on Pennsylvania Avenue blame Iran for weapons proliferation in Iraq, little mention is made of the 250,000 AK47's "lost" by the Pentagon....the idea that Iran shouldn't have nuclear capability while Israel has isn't lost on anyone but Stephen Harper who thinks if he struts a few baby ice-breakers through the Northwest passage that anyone will take Canadian sovereignty seriously...

It's all "bidness" dontcha know....

Although you are right to malign our politicians, you are incorrect for your reasons for doing so. Behind closed doors is where the majority of policy takes form. Most of it is never reported and so we only see things with popular appeal: mandatory minimums, restricted immigration, etc. etc. Most people don't even read the budget.

Before I go off on a tangent... corporations pay attention, and the government pays attention to corporations. Remember immediately after NAFTA was signed, then all of a sudden politicians were quite vocal about how unemployment would increase, minimum wage would decrease and real wages would stagnate under a certain income bracket. But that was good because products would be manufactured for cheaper. Remember how free trade needs freedom of movement for the labour force? Well that certainly wasn't part of NAFTA! No, it was no easier for a Mexican with a legitimate reason to come to Canada or the USA.

NAFTA was all about the bottom line. And Canadian corporations made a mint off it. That is why they moved to the USA. Stockholders and CEO's want the cheapest tax rate available, so they go south to find it. Mulroney and Chretien knew who to please, they knew what they were doing, and that is why NAFTA got signed. All you Tim Horton's stockholders should be happy about them moving to the USA, what does it really matter where the headquarters are? An abstract entity has no nationality, really.

I am a professional worker, or will be at least. So NAFTA is good for me. NAFTA didn't "free up" the professional labour market, and so my wages are protected, which is awesome. The same is true for all scientists, doctors, lawyers, dentists, teachers, (nurses?) and anything that requires national accreditation. Given that, I should approve of NAFTA, but I don't because of what a regressive social policy it represents.

 

[Toro]

If you do not think that the SPP is doing this, take a look at their webpage. Notice how vague their intentions are. Notice how precisely they lay out the myths. Why would you ever define something by what it isn't? Propaganda reasons: you don't want people to know what you are actually doing.

Or, that the proclivity of humans to believe in conspiracy theories is quite large, and this myth has taken a life of its own on the Internet, which is now effecting the purpose of the SPP.

Of course, if they hadn't refuted the myths, the conspiracists would view the lack of denial as proof the group was up to something nefarious. It reminds of a scene in the Life of Brian where Brians followers insist that "Only the true messiah would deny he's the messiah." When Brian responds "Okay, I'm your messiah," the crowd erupts "Messiah! Messiah!" People will believe what they want to believe.