If you’re like me you’ve already been fielding questions from friends and family about Ron Paul’s answer to ‘the CFR question’ at the CNN debate last night.

If you’re like me, you also weren’t sure how to answer those questions because you had never taken the subject very seriously before.

In the interest of educating myself and hopefully helping others to answer questions about Dr. Paul’s response, I have done some research and presented some materials below.

First, here is the transcript from CNN of Paul’s response:

Paul: Well, it all depends on what you mean by “all of this.” the CFR exists, the Trilateral Commission exists. And it’s a, quote, “conspiracy of ideas.” This is an ideological battle. Some people believe in globalism. Others of us believe in national sovereignty.

And there is a move on toward a North American union, just like early on there was a move on for a European Union, and it eventually ended up.

And there is a move on toward a North American Union, just like early on there was a move on for a European Union, and eventually ended up. So we had NAFTA and moving toward a NAFTA highway. These are real things. It’s not somebody made these up. It’s not a conspiracy. They don’t talk about it, and they might not admit about it, but there’s been money spent on it. There was legislation passed in the Texas legislature unanimously to put a halt on it. They’re planning on millions of acres taken by eminent domain for an international highway from Mexico to Canada, which is going to make the immigration problem that much worse.

So it’s not so much a secretive conspiracy, it’s a contest between ideologies, whether we believe in our institutions here, our national sovereignty, our Constitution, or are we going to further move into the direction of international government, more U.N.

You know, this country goes to war under U.N. resolutions. I don’t like big government in Washington, so I don’t like this trend toward international government. We have a WTO that wants to control our drug industry, our nutritional products. So, I’m against all that.

But it’s not so much as a sinister conspiracy. It’s just knowledge is out there. If we look for it, you’ll realize that our national sovereignty is under threat.

Cooper: Congressman Paul, thank you.

(Applause)

Here are some of the sources that might explain “the international highway” and “the move toward a North American Union.”

1. Wikipedia Article: Trans-Texas Corridor

The Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is a transportation network in the planning and early construction stages in the U.S. state of Texas. The network, as planned, would be composed of a 4,000-mile (6,000 km) network of supercorridors up to 1,200 feet (370 m) wide to carry parallel links of tollways, rails, and utility lines.^[1] The tollway portion would be divided into two separate elements: truck lanes and lanes for passenger vehicles. Similarly, the rail lines in the corridor would be divided among freight, commuter, and high-speed rail. Services expected to be carried in the utility corridor include water, electricity, natural gas, petroleum, fiber optic lines, and other telecommunications services. The Trans-Texas Corridor will allow passenger vehicular speed limits of up to 85 mph (140 km/h).^[2] The network will be funded by private investors and built and expanded as demand warrants.

2. Texas Department of Transportation: KeepTexasMoving.com

Interstate and International Trade Corridors
Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor

The Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor is a proposed divided highway corridor stretching from Laredo through West Texas to Denver, Colorado. Designated as a High Priority Corridor by Congress in 1998, the Ports-to-Plains corridor will facilitate the efficient transportation of goods and services from Mexico, through West Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and ultimately on into Canada and the Pacific Northwest.

Together, the communities along the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor are becoming the gateway to trade throughout the nation and with Mexico and Canada. The Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor will provide a vast number of benefits for communities along the corridor. It will:

• allow for the development of less congested ports of entry along the Texas-Mexico border.
• provide alternatives to other congested corridors that run through major metropolitan areas.
• help to increase trade between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, contributing to a rise in regional mobility and economic status for all three nations.

3. Lou Dobbs Investigation: North American Union?

The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP) was launched in March of 2005 as a trilateral effort to increase security and enhance prosperity among the United States, Canada and Mexico through greater cooperation and information sharing.

5. First hand accounts, such as: “Come to Texas and drive up and down the highway and see the farmers’ signs with pleas of help because their land and homes are being taken through “eminent domain” for the Trans-Texas Corridor.”

6. Houston Chronicle: November 6, 2007

How would you feel if, in order to make even more “profit,” the Harris County Toll Road Authority raised the speed limit on, say, the Hardy Toll Road to 85 mph while lowering the limit on the parallel portion of Interstate 45 to 50 mph?

Then how would you feel if they raised the tolls to reflect the increased demand for the Hardy?

Don’t worry. The Harris County Toll Road Authority doesn’t have the power to play with speed limits that way.

No…

But the state of Texas does.

And why would the state of Texas do such a thing?

…the contract makes TxDOT pay the consortium if the state raises the speed limit on I-35, leading to a decline of toll road profits.

The contract’s incentives for a high speed limit on Texas 130, the first leg of which which will run from north of Austin to Seguin, are more precisely calculated.

If the speed limit is 70 mph, Cintra will pay TxDOT $25 million upfront. At 80 mph, the payment would be $92 million.

And for 85 mph: a cool $125 million.

7. NASCO: North American SuperCorridor (Official Website)

8. PortsToPlainsCorridor.com: Official Department of Transportation Website

This study was a joint effort by four state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) including Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The purpose was to create a Development and Management plan for the Ports to Plains Corridor, which outlines a proposed plan for the corridor and serves as an essential tool for securing federal funding for corridor development.

The Transportation Equity Act of the 21st Century (TEA-21) designated the Ports to Plains Corridor as one of 43 “High Priority Corridors” in the United States. The corridor begins at the Texas/Mexico border in Laredo and stretches through the Texas panhandle, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado to Denver. As with other “High Priority Corridors,” the Ports to Plains Corridor is important because of its direct connection with the Mexico border and potential to attract and serve existing and future travel demands associated with NAFTA/international trade.

9. PortsToPlains.com: (Including Corporate and Municipal Investors)

Together, the communities along the Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor are becoming the Gateway to trade throughout the nation and with Mexico and Canada. The Ports-to-Plains Trade Corridor will provide a vast number of benefits for communities along the corridor. The Trade Corridor will allow for the development of less congested ports of entry along the Texas/Mexico border. In addition, it will provide alternatives to other congested corridors that run through major metropolitan areas. In doing so, the trade between Mexico, Canada, and the United States will continue to dramatically increase and all three nations will continue to see a rise in their regional mobility and economic status.

10. CFR.org: Building a North American Community

In regards to the SPP, they write:

The Council-sponsored Task Force applauds the announced “Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America,” but proposes a more ambitious vision of a new community by 2010 and specific recommendations on how to achieve it.

(Emphasis mine.)(Summary of the report in PDF.)

These sources focus primarily on the highway because it is the tangible aspect of the discussion. Issues relating to economics and law have the potential to be just as real as issues relating to roads and ports, but are naturally much more difficult to cite.