Notes from North America: On the Road

The new objects of public and open prejudice are Hispanics, primarily Mexicans due to their large population and their proximity to the United States. Because the Iraq War is such a disaster on all fronts, conservatives and reactionaries have shifted their patriotic fervour from invading foreign countries to inveighing against brown-skinned foreigners who come in the United States. In this article, the author talks about America's xenophobia which goes back a long way past 1928 when it was alleged that Al Smith, the Democratic candidate and first Catholic to be nominated for the presidency, would build a tunnel from the Vatican to the White House so that the Pope could secretly run the country. The author also talks about interstate highways which were specifically created to aid evacuation in case of a Soviet attack. The interstate highway in the crosshairs of the xenophobes is I-69 or sometimes conflated with I-35. Anti-immigrant organisations see expansion of I-69 as a plot to create a NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association) superhighway stretching 1600 miles from Mexico to Canada; this would be the first step towards the creation of NAU, the North American Union, resulting in "the disintegration of these countries as sovereign nations." Although the interstate highway is considered as treason to some Americans, the author was astonished to find that to some Christians, it is deemed the road to salvation.