Word: naftas
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Some of Perot's arguments against NAFTA appeal blatantly to U.S. xenophobia, with more subtle tugs at racist strings. For example, he warns that Asian and European nations are eager to take advantage of NAFTA by investing in Mexico and sneaking their products across the tariff-free U.S.-Mexico border into the United States--a foreign invasion scenario with ominous undertones of a commercial Pearl Harbor...
...NAFTA may indeed present trade opportunities to other countries. But that doesn't mean it necessarily threatens...
Perot devotes much of his anti-NAFTA polemic (a book jingoistically entitled Save Your Job, Save Your Country) to listing the ways in which NAFTA will benefit Mexico, Asia and Europe. The incorrect implication is that anything good for the rest of the world must be bad for the United States...
...Perot is famous for his paranoia and conspiracy theories. Additionally, the threat allowed Perot to wield some particularly useful stereotypes in his battle against NAFTA: Oliver Stone-style Cuban mercenaries and Mexican mafioso drug dealers...
...disturbing that this evidence of racism in the anti-NAFTA rhetoric has received scant attention. But it is not all that surprising. The silence may simply reflect the ironic fact that NAFTA supporters are almost as guilty as Perot of fanning xenophobic flames to make their case. This apparent compromise recognizes that the current political climate rewards xenophobic rhetoric--and grants bonus points for bashing Mexico or Japan. Events like the World Trade Center bombing, Chinese immigrant-smuggling and reports Mexican immigrant soaking up tax-funded service in California have turned public mood against one of America's most cherished...