The Daily Background

There’s a big difference between saying that NAFTA has failed at its goals and that it wasn’t a good idea in the first place– and spreading crazy conspiracy theories. In case anyone needed a reminder that Ron Paul is a rabidly nativist conspiracy theorist nutcase who’s out to pander as much as possible to the racist GOP base with scaremongering tactics about brown people:

In an anti-NAFTA radio ad that’s airing in Iowa, Paul denounces “powerful elites” who “want to completely erase our borders with Canada and Mexico. These special interests threaten us with a total loss of sovereignty. The NAFTA superhighway, a part of this scheme, has threatened to force thousands off their land. Some believe the highway’s path will go right through Iowa. As your president, I will stop all efforts to take away America’s freedom. I have always opposed and will continue to fight against NAFTA and the North American Union.”

On the campaign trail, Paul has denounced “secret funding” for the superhighway, which he described as 12 lanes wide, stretching from Mexico to Canada.

Convinced? You shouldn’t be.

There is no NAFTA superhighway being built or in the planning stages, and no sovereignty-busting North American Union, according to federal, state and local officials. They call it an Internet urban myth spread by nativist commentators who combine legitimate efforts to improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure with their rabble-rousing conspiracies.

It’s unsurprising that Paul was one of the conservatives who voted for the border fence. It is surprising though to hear Paul so blatantly pander to nativists, especially since he recently adopted Obama’s rhetoric on immigration scaremongering. Here’s Paul recently on The View:

PAUL: I think our problem with immigration comes from the fact that we have a weak economy and immigrants are scapegoats and if we had a healthy economy, and we weren’t worrying about our jobs, and we weren’t worrying about the downturn in our economy, I think immigration wouldn’t be nearly a problem as it is… I think if we had a healthy economy, the immigrants would be much more welcome.

Sound familiar? It should. Here’s Obama on immigration recently:

“[T]he politics of immigration I don’t think will change until American workers feel as if somebody is listening to them, looking out for them, fighting for them and their economic concerns . . . If people see that we’re taking those steps, then it puts them in a more generous mood when it comes to immigrants.”
[…]
“[Scapegoating of immigrants] is an indicator of the economic anxiety that people are feeling right now,” Obama said. “I see anti-immigrant sentiment as growing out of the same soil as anti-trade sentiment. People feel as if globalization is making their lives more insecure, less stable. . . . They’re working harder for less. They’ve never paid more for healthcare or college. It’s harder to save. It’s harder to retire. They’re maxed out on their credit cards. They’re taking out home equity loans to keep pace.”

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