The unified conspiracy theorist

Houston Chronicle Editorial:

The implications are chilling. Whether it's the shadowy Bilderberg financial conference that took place in Turkey, or the triad of U.S., Canadian and Mexican chief executives convening this week in Quebec, the secretive master plan that is surely being implemented bodes ill — for Canada.

That's the fear of conspiracy theorists up north, who are convinced that Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan, among other developments, is swirling into a tornado that one day will sweep away their national borders, fuse the governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States, and ultimately force everyone to buy groceries with fresh-minted "Ameros."

The Canadians can hardly be faulted for worrying about melding with the chaotic nation just to the south. If the Canadian conspiracists are anxious, their more numerous counterparts in the United States are in a complete froth. As Chronicle reporter R.G. Ratcliffe wrote in the Saturday Chronicle, conspiracy chatter here also has fixated on the Trans-Texas Corridor. A Google search featuring "Rick Perry" and "Trans-Texas Corridor" produces 13,400 Web page results. That's in addition to the escalating rhetoric on radio and the urgent warnings by groups such as the John Birch Society and Texas Eagle Forum.

"There is absolutely a connection with all of it" — the corridor plan, the Bilderberg meeting that Perry attended and the summit of North American leaders — Eagle President Cathie Adams told Ratcliffe. Not for her any chance that three friendly governments might plausibly discuss mutual interests such as security or economic growth.

Like a throbbing artery, the Trans-Texas Corridor has become the crucial connection between these theories in recent years. But anxieties about foreign infiltration and loss of national sovereignty have periodically flared in American culture for centuries....

...

... there's little chance that easing the drive from Laredo to Kansas will by itself spawn one-continent government.

...

Ironically, the Chron opposes the road too. I do find the paranoia and hysteria interesting, but entirely unpersuasive. The road will still have to stand or fall on whether or not it makes economic sense.