June 29, 2005
"CAFTA is NAFTA on steroids!" That's how one experienced trade attorney describes the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
And CAFTA is on the move. This morning, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee endorsed CAFTA, sending it to the full Senate for a vote which will likely take place in two days. The vote will be close, but pro-CAFTA forces believe they have enough votes to get it passed by the Senate. If they do, they will claim "momentum" and get the U.S. House to vote on it soon thereafter.
The pro-CAFTA forces aren't really for true free trade. They are for global managed trade...because that is what CAFTA (like NAFTA) really is. Think about it. Why does it take over 1,000 pages to define free trade?
We've had over 10 years of NAFTA so we should know what to expect with CAFTA. Again, "CAFTA is NAFTA on steroids!"
CAFTA fits hand-in-glove with the world-government agenda to make the U.S. just another client state. How?
Consider: CAFTA article 10.16.3 places the United States under the jurisdiction of international tribunals supervised by the United Nations.
Consider: CAFTA article 10.5.2(a) states that these international tribunals must use "customary international law" as established by the "principle legal systems of the world" when deciding cases.
Welcome to the United Nations' world court system!
And then there's the unconstitutional granting of "fast track" authority to the president. Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the sole authority to regulate international trade. But CAFTA, like NAFTA, treats the U.S. Constitution as a relic.
We already suffer from the World Trade Organization and its international bureaucrats. CAFTA will add another layer of unaccountable world elites who will tell us what we can and cannot do.
Even the French understand the critical importance of national sovereignty. They recently rejected the proposed constitution of the European Union. Remember that the E.U. started as a trade agreement in 1957, and now it is a regional supra government.
NAFTA. CAFTA. And then the Union of the Americas.
We strongly urge a "no" vote on CAFTA. Tell your U.S. senators to reject CAFTA.
To send your messages, go to
http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/alert/?alertid=7774311&type=CO
Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org 