Robert Pastor is still hard at it. He’s written still another article (“The Future of North America,” July/August 2008 issue of Foreign Affairs) in favor of creating a “North American Community.” Of course, he’d never dream of promoting a North American Union (NAU). To his way of thinking the NAU concept is merely a pipe dream of Lou Dobbs and other anti-NAU “populists.”

However, the summary provided for the 500-word preview of Pastor’s new article on the Foreign Affairs website is: “It’s time to integrate further with Canada and Mexico, not separate from them.” So, Pastor is definitely in favor of more integration with our two neighbors, but understandably shy about applying a politically negative term to his enterprise.

Pastor candidly acknowledges that his proposals for integrating the U.S. with Mexico and Canada have been slowed down by a "perfect storm" of anti-NAU activists on both the left and the right in recent years. Here’s his take:

ASSAULTS FROM both ends of the political spectrum have transformed the debate on North America in recent years. From the right have come attacks based on cultural anxieties of being overrun by Mexican immigrants and fears that greater cooperation with Canada and Mexico could lead down a slippery slope toward a North American Union. Dobbs, among others, viewed a report by a 2005 Council on Foreign Relations task force (which I co-chaired), Building a North American Community, as the manifesto of a conspiracy to subvert American sovereignty. Dobbs claimed that the CFR study proposed a North American Union, although it did not. From the left came attacks based on economic fears of job losses due to unfair trading practices. These two sets of fears came together in a perfect storm that was pushed forward by a surplus of hot air from talk-show hosts on radio and television. In the face of this criticism, the Bush administration was silent, and the Democratic candidates competed for votes in the rust-belt states, where unions and many working people have come to see NAFTA and globalization much as Dobbs does.

Pastor’s analysis is fairly accurate, although he unfairly characterizes his opponents on the right as opposing his North American “Community” due to “cultural anxieties of being overrun by Mexican immigrants and fears that greater cooperation with Canada and Mexico could lead down a slippery slope toward a North American Union.” That is, according to Pastor, conservative opponents of his ideas for integrating North America are merely racist xenophobes with an unreasonable fear of an NAU bogeyman. Apparently, Pastor doesn’t dare state the real reasons for opposition to his ideas because by stating them in a neutral manner, most would probably agree with his opponents.

For example, one of the leading critics of Pastor’s North American integration schemes, the John Birch Society, bases its opposition on the certainty that an eventual merger of the three nations would alter or override our U.S. Constitution. Thus, our precious, God-given rights and freedoms, which are secured by the Constitution, are under direct threat by any such merger, by whatever name Pastor and his fellow elites choose to call it. (For an in-depth rebuttal of Pastor's proposals, read "Merger in the Making," a special issue of The New American magazine.)

Nonetheless, Pastor goes right ahead with his proposals “to deepen economic integration,” “to permit trucks to travel in all three countries,” “to narrow the gap in income that separates Mexico from its northern neighbors by creating a North American investment fund,” and “to educate a new generation of students to think North American.” He concludes with: 

... a vision of a North American Community ... designed to pursue a bold agenda that includes a customs union, a North American commission, a North American investment fund, and a common team of customs and border guards to man the borders and the continental perimeter.

If you agree that Pastor’s North American integration plans are a direct threat to our hard-won rights and freedoms as Americans, you can take immediate action to help influence your representative and senators to block the North American Union process by supporting HCR 40, Rep. Virgil Goode’s (R-Virginia) 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.” This bill already has 48 cosponsors.

Click here to take immediate action to block the NAU!

To join with others in your area to block the NAU, go to http://meetupalliance.com/jbs.

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