y now many Americans have heard about the
proposed “NAFTA Super Highway,” which is also referred to as the
trans-Texas corridor. What you may not know is the extent to
which plans for such a superhighway are moving forward without
congressional oversight or media attention.
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
10-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.
Gov. Rick
Perry is a supporter of the
superhighway project, and Congress has provided small amounts of
money to study the proposal. Since this money was just one item
in an enormous transportation appropriations bill, however, most
members of Congress were not aware of it.
The proposed highway is part of a broader plan advanced by a
quasi-government organization called the “Security and
Prosperity Partnership of North America,” or SPP.
The SPP was first launched in 2005 by the heads of state of
Canada, Mexico, and the United States at a summit in Waco.
The SPP was not created by a treaty between the nations
involved, nor was Congress involved in any way. Instead, the SPP
is an unholy alliance of foreign consortiums and officials from
several governments. One principal player is a Spanish
construction company, which plans to build the highway and
operate it as a toll road. But don’t be fooled: the superhighway
proposal is not the result of free market demand, but rather an
extension of government-managed trade schemes like NAFTA that
benefit politically-connected interests.
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.
A new
resolution, introduced by Rep. Virgil Goode of Virginia,
expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should
not engage in the construction of a NAFTA super highway, or
enter into any agreement that advances the concept of a North
American Union. I wholeheartedly support this legislation, and
predict that the super highway will become a sleeper issue in
the 2008 election.
Any movement toward a North American Union diminishes the
ability of average Americans to influence the laws under which
they must live. The SPP agreement, including the plan for a
major transnational superhighway through Texas, is moving
forward without congressional oversight—and that is an outrage.
The administration needs a strong message from Congress that the
American people will not tolerate backroom deals that threaten
our sovereignty.
Dr. Paul
represents the 14th District of Texas in the U.S. House of
Representatives. He consistently votes for limited
constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return
to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency.
He is the author of Challenge to Liberty, The Case for Gold, and
A Republic, If You Can Keep It.
