2003 Soap Box Archives

Should We Repeal N.A.F.T.A.? 03/17/03

Before I begin this article I would like to make you all aware of
something. It came to my attention not long ago that a lot of the
merchandise we were using, tee shirts, caps, etc., were coming from
foreign countries. I instructed my people to sell off the foreign
merchandise and that from now on all our products would be American made.

While this is not possible in the case of some specialty items our
mainstream products are available from American companies and will be
purchased from them.

Now the article.

Recently I read an astute and extremely well written piece on
the North American Free Trade Agreement. (N.A.F.T.A.), which is a trade
agreement between the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico.

It was supposed to expedite trade between the three nations and be
beneficial to all three economies by tearing down barriers and
facilitating the flow of goods across international borders.

I have heard a lot of people whom I respect say that N.A.F.T.A. is a
good thing. Good for who? I’ll tell you who, a handful of power
grabbing corporations and international financiers.

Since its inception in 1994, N.A.F.T.A. has eliminated somewhere around
800,000 jobs in the U.S.A.

Remember that giant sucking sound Ross Perot talked about?
Armed with the threat of moving industries to Mexico, these modern day
robber barons take advantage of an already beleaguered labor force.
Another sad thing is that N.A.F.T.A. hasn’t done very much for the
economies of Canada and Mexico, although they have benefitted
considerably more than the U.S.A.

Why and how did this happen? While I’m sure there were many well
intentioned people involved at the beginning, I feel that N.A.F.T.A. was
designed and orchestrated to line the pockets of a lot of people who are
already incredibly rich.

It seems there is an element in this country which is determined to lead
us down the primrose path of economic deception.

Enron, Worldcom and several other companies cooked the books and cheated
their employees and stockholders while the top executives made off with
decadent fortunes.

I feel that the N.A.F.T.A. agreement somewhat parallels these debacles,
insofar as deception is concerned.

It’s time we took a long look at N.A.F.T.A. Is it really beneficial to
the masses or only to the super rich? Is it good for the work force or
is it an underhanded, union breaking tactic to drive down labor costs
and add to the all consuming bottom line?

It seems that every time we give up our sovereignty, whether it be to
the United Nations or to international business interests, our fingers
get severely burned.

I will be the first one to admit that I’m not a globalist. I believe in
the sovereignty of nations, the right to defend themselves, militarily
or economically.

There is now another fiasco on the drawing board called the F.T.A.A. ,
the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, which includes North, Central
and South America. I think you can probably make an educated guess at
what the outcome of this would be. It would certainly move more
industries south taking jobs with them.

The power of a nation should not be centered in the hands of a few elite
industrialists. What ever happened to “We the people”?

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels