Reagan himself was a dreamer, capable of imagining a world without trade barriers. In announcing his presidential candidacy in Nov. 1979, he had proposed a “North American accord” in which commerce & people would move freely across the borders of Canada & Mexico. This idea, largely overlooked or dismissed as a campaign gimmick in the US, rankled nationalist sensibilities in the neighboring nations. But Reagan was serious in his proposal. Though he traveled only once outside the North American continent during his first 57 years, he was neither insular nor isolationist. California has windows to the world in Asia, and Reagan thought of the US as a Pacific power as well as an Atlantic one. He also had a Californian’s consciousness of Mexico and an actor’s appreciation of Canadians, who are well-represented in the film community. The dream of a North American accord would drive the successful pursuit of a US-Canadian free trade agreement and a future-oriented “framework” trade agreement with Mexico.
Source: [X-ref immigration] The Role of a Lifetime, p. 461 Jul 2, 1991
BTW, sorry for the mispelling of Holocaust, I spelled it out phonetically, and IMO, my spelling transgression is very small compared to, in what IMO, some of the buchananite anti-immigration clique on FR believe in that the Holocaust never happened.
And I am not saying you belong to that contingent, Petronski.
Moving freely across the border, in Reagan's mind, never meant anarchy. Anarchy is what we have on the border now.