From the editor.

America has been not only a land of milk and honey, but of freedom and opportunity. In America, a young person starting out at the bottom of the economic ladder could--through ability, hard work, and sheer willpower--climb the rungs to the top. Kimberly Moore, a single morn working at McDonald's, did it, and became CEO of the Workforce Plus employment firm.

Kimberly Moore's inspiring story is recounted by writer Dennis Behreandt in his article beginning on the next page. But "the really amazing thing" about that story, Mr. Behreandt points out, is that "it is only a small part of the incredible tapestry of success that is the American dream" Other parts of the tapestry include myriad other "rags to riches" success stories that occur in much greater frequency in this great land of ours than anywhere else on Earth. And not just "rags to fiches" in the economic sense--but the successful pursuit of our own special dreams, from owning our own business (if that's what we want to do) to providing a better future for our children?

The Petri dish that makes this possible is the freedom that we enjoy as Americans--the freedom guaranteed by our priceless Constitution. But, Mr. Behreandt asks, "What if the United States of America, uniquely founded to preserve liberty, ceased to exist as a free and independent nation?" Would the American dream also be lost?

This special issue of THE NEW AMERICAN focuses on a "trade" agreement that has already harmed our country and will do much more harm unless countered. It is called NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Consider the facts compiled in this issue:

* Dennis Behreandt, in a second article in this issue, surveys the devastating consequences of NAFTA on our jobs and economy (page 10).

* Kelly Taylor warns about the Trans Texas Corridor now under construction, a part of the planned NAFTA Superhighway intended to transport foreign imports through Mexico into the United States (page 19).

* William E Jasper documents the step-by-step plans to expand NAFTA into a North American Union where the United States would no longer be able control its own destiny (page 28).

* Mr. Jasper, in a second article, documents how little-known NAFTA courts have already begun undermining our freedoms and independence (page 34).

* John E McManus takes a hard look at the European Union, which is viewed as a model by internationalists on this side of the Atlantic for the creation of the North American Union (page 39).

NAFTA, you see, is much more than a "free-trade agreement." It provides the foundational structure for an embryonic regional government that our political elites are already expanding, step by step and through stealth, into a full-blown North American Union (NAU). NAFTA has already cost our country over a million jobs since its inception more than a decade ago. But unless the NAFTA-NAU process is exposed and countered, NAFTA will eventually cost us the very Constitution that makes our freedoms and the American dream possible.

Preposterous? Not when the facts compiled in this special issue are examined.

But the news compiled herein is not all bad--far from it! In the concluding article, Jim Capo reports that everyday citizens are finding out about this danger to our country and are becoming involved in the fight to stop it and to preserve our nation and the American dream. Today's Americans are the custodians of a proud and long heritage of freedom. If they are awakened to the threat, they will meet the challenge head-on. NAFTA will be repealed and the plans for a North American Union derailed.

This special issue is designed to provide some of the facts. We encourage all readers to circulate it widely.