Tom Deweese
July 27, 2004
Reno, NV: Tom DeWeese, president of the american Policy Center, told a session of the fifth annual Freedom 21 Conference that sustainable development is the central principle that "would be used to consider everything you eat, what you wear, the kind of homes you live in, the method of transportation used to get to work, the way you dispose of waste, (and) perhaps the number of children you may have; even your education and employment decisions."
The conference which began Tuesday is sponsored by a group of think tanks and activist organizations that address issues such a property rights, gun ownership rights, the impact of the United Nations and U.S. sovereignty, and ways in which politically conservative attendees can organize to resist the loss of Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.
"Imagine an america," said DeWeese, "in which a specific ruling principle is created to decide proper societal conduct for every citizen." Referring to former Vice President al Gore’s book, Earth in the Balance, DeWeese said Gore’s call for a "wrenching transformation of society" reflected the goals of sustainable development.
Sustainable development comes out of a United Nations plan for global governance called agenda 21. In 1993, former President Clinton created the President’s Council on Sustainable Development without requesting its authorization or approval by Congress. The Council is composed of members of the Cabinet, representatives of environmental organizations, and some represents of industry. Ken Lay of Enron was a PCSD member,
The implementation of sustainable development programs has been undertaken independent of the Congress through the internal creation of rules by the various Cabinet departments and other government agencies. "It is the official policy of the United States government," said DeWeese, "and every day more of the agenda is implemented", adding that "in four years, other than throwing a few bones on roadless areas, President Bush has yet to undo a single Clinton executive order on sustainable development."
Others on the morning panel devoted to sustainable development included Michael Shaw, the founder of Freedom 21 in Santa Cruz. He was joined by Michael Chapman, the director of EdWatch, an organization devoted to exposing the way the nation’s educational system has been transformed by sustainable development goals.
Shaw is primarily concerned with property rights issues and told the audience that the definition of sustainable development "uses the same language that appeared in the constitution of the former Soviet Union." Opposed to private property rights, sustainable development advocates work to undermine the rights of owners to use their property to enhance and extract its value, whether they are forest owners, ranchers, farmers, or just homeowners. Sustainable development, said Shaw is about "collectivism and it advances the increasing loss of our constitutional freedoms." It does so through the creation of a variety of "councils" composed of unelected individuals that seek to acquire powers properly delegated only to elected or appointed government officials.
"They want to revamp our justice system and replace it with social justice," warned Shaw. Their program rips apart the Bill of Rights." Our economic system, too, is under attack because private property is the essential linchpin of free enterprise. "and they seek to disarm us" to achieve greater control. "We must all become aware of the tyranny enveloping us," said Shaw.
Michael Chapman of EdWatch told the attendees that "Education is no longer about teaching the principles of freedom." The transformation of the national educational system has been ongoing for more than four decades, "and knowledge is no longer the purpose of education. It is about the creation of world citizens who believe government is the answer to all needs."
Chapman outlined how US history has been "censored" and rewritten for generations of children, teaching that the Constitution can be re-interpreted and re-defined, although Thomas Jefferson and the founding fathers warned against this and made amending the constitution difficult in order to retain its restraints on the growth of government.
The new curriculum teaches that the Bill of Rights are "negative" rights said Chapman and "this curriculum is working. We are going to lose our nation if we don’t win this struggle today."
DeWeese warned the gathering of activists that sustainable development is not just about one issue such as property rights, Second amendment rights, grazing rights, endangered species, water use policy, education, religion, or comparable concerns.
"The Sustainablists," said DeWeese are doing "everything possible to vilify us as violent reactionaries who just want to pave the Earth," but the movement is growing. Today, "there are three times more of us and we are not just ranchers and timber people."
"Tell them that we get it!" said DeWeese, that their agenda is known and understood." He advised them that the struggle to retain our freedoms begins at the local level, urging they return home and run for public office or organize others who want to fight the sustainable development movement." Take back your communities and take back america."