You and I have been fighting it for years. We’ve made progress, but not enough. That lack of progress is enough to discourage many activists to leave our fight and try to fight something else — perhaps an easier victory. But, as an associate of mine used to say, “Saving America is not a 9:00 to 5:00 job.” It’s never easy. But this fight MUST be won. Agenda 21 is at the root of nearly every other issue we fight. Leave the Agenda 21 fight now and America’s precious Republic will never be restored. We must renew this fight with a spirit and energy like never before. Our battle cry must be to crush Agenda 21 in 2014.
I know it’s a hard issue to understand, and even harder to explain to our friends and neighbors. We’re told it’s just an environmental issue; a land conservation policy; a sensible development policy. Sustainable — what’s wrong with that? As usual, the problem is in the details. Are we hearing the truth? What are the consequences of the policy? Can it really be so dangerous? Or, as proponents claim, is our opposition to it really just a silly, overblown conspiracy theory?
Here’s what they tell us Agenda 21 really is: “Sustainable communities encourage people to work together to create healthy communities where natural resources and historic resources are preserved, jobs are available, sprawl is contained, neighborhoods are secure, education is lifelong, transportation and healthcare is accessible, and all citizens have opportunities to improve the quality of their lives.”
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The UN’s Brundtland Commission on Global Governance described Sustainable Development as “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.” It’s just common sense to assure we don’t overuse our resources, say proponents. If everyone will do their part, we can achieve total sustainability. We are all in this together! We are the world (everyone sing and hold hands)!
Better yet, let’s take each of these glowing ideas one at a time. How do we put such ideas into action? What are the consequences? Are we better off? Is the environment better off?
“Sustainable communities encourage people to work together…” There certainly are members of our society who take the whole Sustainablist agenda to heart and love to get involved improving their community. They clean out river banks, collect trash along roadways, recycle, watch their thermostats, and ride their bikes whenever possible. Good for them. That’s their decision and they are free to make it.
But there are others who may have a different vision on how they want to live. Perhaps they don’t agree with the dire predictions about environmental Armageddon. How do they fit in the Agenda for the 21st Century?
They are dealt with. Their children in the public schools are pummeled with the political correctness of being proper environmental stewards. Guilt plays a huge part in that indoctrination. It’s necessary so future generations will be prepared to “work” together in their communities. In addition, in many schools now, the children are required to fulfill a certain number of hours of community service in order to qualify for their diploma. In a Sustainable world, proper attitude is at least as important as scholarship. Today’s curriculum to ensure proper citizenship is called Common Core. It is the curriculum of Agenda 21 and is intended to be “life-long.”
Cooperation from adult citizens is just as structured. Where once public meetings to discuss new policy were based on the guidelines called “Roberts Rules of Order,” through which everyone got a fair chance to have their say and then a vote was taken, today we have “facilitators” trained in psychology to assure they lead a gathering in exactly the direction needed for the predetermined and desired outcome. If the facilitator is really good at his job, everyone in the meeting will believe the outcome was their idea. And those in charge hail the meeting as a huge success in which all in the community “worked together” to put these plans in place.
“… to create healthy communities …” This can mean many things. Healthy? We see the growing power of the food police today who have declared many things in our diet unhealthy. We see the mayor of New York declaring large sodas unhealthy and banning their sale. We see fast-food establishments picketed for selling fries made with grease or hamburgers that are cruel to animal rights. There are mandatory vaccinations, without which children can’t enter schools and parents are charged with child abuse.
Local governments enforce grand comprehensive plans designed to pack and stack people on top of each other in massive high rise buildings. Is that what they mean by healthy? History would show that forcing people into massive containers reduces quality of life, spreads disease, and promotes violence. These aren’t healthy communities. The Russians called them Gulags.
“… where natural resources … are preserved …” The fear is that overconsumption will bring shortages of natural resources, and so the sustainable plan is to erect endless forests of windmills. That is the natural way, we are told. Man will live on the surface of the Earth doing no harm. Of course, they never seem to mention that the massive wind turbines will take more energy to build than they will ever generate in their lifetime. In addition, to bring the power online so it can be used by society requires a massive infrastructure of wires, concrete, and roads. While one nuclear power plant located on ten acres can supply enough energy for a massive city, wind power would require thousands of acres of clear cut, concrete wastelands. And then the power is unstable and unreliable, causing homes to grow cold or hot. And that isn’t healthy for our communities. Moreover, there is the side effect of millions of birds that are chopped up in the turbines, including “endangered” raptors such as eagles. And they call that environmentally sound?
And one more question comes to mind as we lock away resources for future generations. At what point would these locked away resources ever be allowed to be used by a society so afraid of itself? Won’t there always be a future generation that might need them? Meanwhile, science keeps discovering that the dire predictions of resource depletion are outrageously overblown. It has recently been discovered that the United States has the largest oil and gas supplies in the world. Hydraulic fracturing is benign American technology that is ecologically sound and economically advantageous. But it has been deemed “unsustainable” by Sustainablists who quickly oppose any source of cheap energy. Yet, fracking stretches our energy reserves several hundred years into the future. That would certainly give science ample time to come up with new technology.
“… historic resources are preserved …” Frankly I have no idea what a historic “resource” is. But I do know that Sustainablists prey on America’s love of history as an excuse to lock away any land where once a historic person may have taken a walk. And they use it to generate massive federal grants so planners can stop development, even in towns where nothing of historic significance ever occurred. It’s a growth industry in the world of sustainable lockaways.
“… jobs are available …” What will magically happen in a Sustainable Community to suddenly create jobs that aren’t there now? Government doesn’t create jobs. Creative, driven, free people create jobs to fill needs they have discovered. No government-controlled economy would ever have created a factory that makes drink umbrellas or little pieces of plastic that go on the ends of your shoe laces. Bureaucrats don’t think that way. They only think in terms of need, urgency — bare minimum. Luxury is never part of the government plan. The fact is, Sustainable Development is one of the biggest killers of jobs. Its rules and regulation make it near impossible for many companies to survive. The EPA, enforcing Sustainable policies, is killing power plants, mines, farms, even, as was recently announced, bullet factories. They’re destroying economies of whole states. So where will these glorious Sustainable jobs come from? Government jobs! Perhaps the high-rise apartments in the megacities will need lots of NSA-type eavesdroppers for mandatory surveillance to assure our healthy communities.
“… sprawl is contained …” Evil sprawl — those areas of community growth where people run to escape the megacities. In nearly every case, those new homes in their shiny developments are a place where a family first opened the front door with smiles on their faces because this was their home. They have back yards where the kids can play. They have a real sense of community. And those terrible strip malls that spring up around the new developments that supply goods and services for the new residents also create jobs and enhance the economy. Stack and pack cities are not livable if you actually believe in fresh air and a place for the kids to play. Cities are full of government drugs, disease, and inefficient use of energy and resources. Do the Sustainablists focus on stopping murders by drug cartels and beatings by gangs of illegal immigrants? You never seem to hear anything about that in their plans. All of these facts were actually exposed in a report by the American Planning Association on the effects of Smart Growth. The report revealed that it doesn’t work. But that hasn’t changed the APA’s policies because Smart Growth is full of government grants. And that’s the real game — Sustainable income for Non-governmental organizations.
“… neighborhoods are secure…” How is this done? Massive police control? Cameras on every corner? Gun control? TSA in the subway and bus station? NSA listening in on every conversation, and computer keystroke? Security over privacy and individual choice? Certain, there is no Sustainable “freedom” in such a scheme.
“… transportation … is accessible …” This one is easy. Public transportation. Trains for long distance, bikes for the quick run to the store. No cars. You will rarely leave the neighborhood. Imagine the hassle involved in taking the family on a trip to the beach using inconvenient train schedules? Of course, humans flocking to the beach are unsustainable, so you won’t need to imagine it. Just read about it in a history book.
“… healthcare is accessible …” Well, we used to have accessible healthcare, then government got into the game. Perhaps you think it’s unfair to mention ObamaCare in an article about Sustainable Development. Simply Google “Sustainable Medicine” and find more than 5,850,000 references on the subject, and you will find almost all the provisions of ObamaCare.
“… all citizens have the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives.” Really? What part above leads to improvement of the quality of life? We used to call it tyranny — now we call it quality of life. As George Orwell said in his landmark book, 1984, it’s all called “Newspeak.” Look around you now as Sustainable policy is being forced on us. America’s economy is in shambles and not improving. Costs of everything, especially healthcare, food, and energy are skyrocketing. These industries are the very first to be impacted by Sustainable Development. How will it improve under a policy of planned shortages and locked-away resources? What or who are they counting on to pull us out? Answer: individuals who will continue to produce no matter how many shackles they lock them in. Eventually, even the most determined give up.
The Sustainablists use such innocent-sounding descriptions of their plans for us. Then they deny they are even doing it, and anyone who calls them on it is labeled a fringe nut.
But there is another way to say it, a much older description of Sustainable Development that explains the motivation behind the policy in a much more direct manner: “From each according to his ability. To each according to his need.” If you recognize that quote, then you fully understand the true nature of Sustainable Development.
This is their Agenda for the 21st Century. Agenda 21. Every issue we face is tied directly to it. Yet, many concerned Americans get sidetracked with the latest issue of the day, be it Obama scandals, ObamaCare, illegal immigration, taxes, gun control, abortion, and so forth. All of these are important issues, to be sure. And those battles must be fought. But all of them have direct ties to Agenda 21/Sustainable policy and will be stopped if Agenda 21 is stopped. Proponents of this policy seek to distract you with fringe issues to take your focus off the ball — Agenda 21.
Agenda 21 is the battle we must fight if we are to restore the Republic. This is why we must make 2014 the year we crush this nightmare. Please, don’t be distracted or discouraged if progress against it feels slow. It took decades of quiet implementation to bring us this far. It will take time to stop it. But we are winning battles and the opposition is terrified of what we are accomplishing. Stay with me in this fight. The future of freedom depends on your commitment to preserve it.
Click here to see Tom DeWeese’s video “Memo to the Movement”
Tom DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty, free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics education and American sovereignty and independence. Go to americanpolicy.org for more information
