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Free trade is a voluntary exchange between two individuals, unencumbered by government. The recent Singapore and Chile "Free Trade Agreements" are massively regulated bureaucratic nightmares administered by unaccountable "committees" most of whom are not American and are antagonistic to our interests. They are not about free trade, but about sapping our sovereignty and "harmonizing" our laws with the rest of the world.
These agreements, along with the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and a plethora of others, are building blocks for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which is a vast broadening and deepening of NAFTA. (in Globalese "broadening" means adding new members, and "deepening" means claiming jurisdiction over more and more areas previously the sole responsibility of local, state, or federal government). You can be assured of more and more intervention in internal civil and criminal laws.
Rather than remove government stumbling blocks to create true free trade, NAFTA/FTAA seeks to "harmonize" the multitude of socialist regulations hamstringing our economy and add even more. We have already seen the results of NAFTA in its' present form. Imagine the state of our country with unaccountable bureaucracies free of checks and balances (the ones that prevent absolute, tyrannical power from accumulating in the hands of our Constitutional government) running things.
The FTAA was launched at a December 1994 conference in Miami, hosted by then-President Bill Clinton. The "Declaration of Principles" and "Plan of Action" made public at this conference are telling of its' globalist roots. In the preamble of the Declaration we find "We reiterate our firm adherence to the principles of international law and the purposes and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and in the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS)....", and the pledge "to begin immediately to construct the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)," targeted for completion by 2005.
President G.W. Bush has also affirmed his commitment to this in a speech on January 16, 2002 to the Organization for American States (OAS) and the World Affairs Council in Washington, D.C. "We're working to build a Free Trade Area of the Americas, and we're determined to complete those negotiations by January of 2005," . "We plan to complete a free trade agreement with Chile early this year. And once we conclude the agreement, I urge Congress to take it up quickly. And I ask the Senate to schedule a vote, as soon as it returns, on renewing and expanding the Andean Trade Preference Act. Today, I announce that the United States will explore a free trade agreement with the countries of Central America.... Our purpose is to strengthen the economic ties we already have with these nations . and to take another step toward completing the Free Trade Area of the Americas."
If you believe that our Constitutional system is the best one out there, you need to begin to protect it. This means study and get involved. Learn the principles that made us great, then get involved by contacting your representatives and making your voice heard. Let your friends and neighbors know what you learn and solicit their support. Freedom is not free. It takes knowledge, vigilance, and sacrifice to maintain it.
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