300 Rally Against NAFTA, Loose U.S. Borders : Warner Park: Eugene McCarthy and William Dannemeyer assail the proposed trade pact and illegal immigration.

About 300 people rallied in Warner Park on Friday, opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement and calling for strict measures to bar immigrants from crossing U.S. borders illegally.

The rally brought former U.S. Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, a liberal who nearly took the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination with his solitary outcry against the Vietnam War, to the same stage with ultraconservative commentator George Putnam and former Republican Rep. William E. Dannemeyer.

Surrounded by American flags and placards with messages such as “Close the Border or Lose the Country,” all three excoriated the NAFTA treaty as dangerous to loud cheers from the predominantly white, middle-aged crowd.

The rally was organized by a Valley-based group called The Voice of Citizens Together.

Glen Stevens, the group’s president, spoke first, saying the proposed NAFTA treaty among the United States, Mexico and Canada would increase unemployment in Mexico, causing an increase in illegal immigration to the United States.

“We’re exporting jobs and importing poverty on a massive scale,” said Stevens. “This is not immigration, this is annexation and we know it.”

Putnam, a radio and TV commentator for nearly 60 years who is known for his breathless promotion of “a better, stronger America,” said NAFTA is “non-patriotic, if not treasonable.”

Putnam introduced McCarthy--whose 1968 campaign was a key factor in President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to withdraw from the race--who asserted that America has had “20 years of the most irresponsible government we’ve ever had.”

Looking a little uncomfortable among old political opponents, McCarthy nonetheless described NAFTA as a continuation of 20 years of irresponsible leadership during which Congress has tried to make government “automatic,” so it can avoid responsibility.

“They called in three ex-Presidents to explain NAFTA as if they were economic experts,” he said.

McCarthy, who criticized American border policy in his book “A Colony of the World: The United States Today,” compared the nation to a colony because it doesn’t control its foreign policy, its culture and language, economy and borders.

Dannemeyer said he has urged Gov. Pete Wilson, President Bill Clinton and former President George Bush before him to send the U.S. Army to the border to stop illegal immigration.

He argued for a return to voluntary prayer in the schools and likened NAFTA to “an international EPA,” or Environmental Protection Agency, that will regulate everyone.

Dannemeyer urged the audience to throw out members of Congress.

“The spirit of King George III is very much alive in the United States. It’s in the U.S. Congress.”