Sovereignty-sapping pact being slowed by eventsPublished

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Sovereignty-sapping pact being slowed by eventsPublished: Wednesday, October 05, 2005 -- The Truth, A4
Last updated: 10/5/2005 12:08:51 AM

The lengths to which the administration and some GOP leaders went to gain their razor-thin 217 to 215 House victory for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) indicates that their plan to enact the even more dangerous Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) pact will face stiff opposition. The administration made almost unprecedented lobbying visits to Capitol Hill the day of the vote. Republican heavyweights handed out promises to obtain funding for district projects and gave commitments for re-election funding.

The reality is that CAFTA will add to the problems already caused by the 12-year-old NAFTA pact. More jobs will leave our nation, more illegal immigration can be expected and another sovereignty-compromising judicial tribunal will exist to supersede state and federal court rulings. The administration let it be known that it wanted CAFTA passed as a forerunner to the FTAA, which would merge 34 nations of the Western Hemisphere as the next step in trading away our nation's wealth and sovereignty and is patterned after the European Union. By playing virtually all its cards to get CAFTA enacted, it may leave very few to use when seeking FTAA approval.

The cost of the hurricane rebuilding, the war in Iraq and the economic hit from oil prices will possibly slow the push for FTAA. This will give the educational program of The John Birch Society, which led the fight against CAFTA, more time to warn the American people of the dangerous CAFTA plan.

JAMES R. KAUFFMAN

Goshen