Many developing movements in government and society threaten
our way of life. One of these is Agenda 21, which claims to protect the
environment but in reality aims for unwitting community and state cooperation
to bring the land and homes of individuals and businesses under government
control.
Agenda 21 was born in the 1970s under the protective wings
of world government, a growing movement that will reduce the United States to
one of many vassal states under international control. Under this movement our
resources and economic wealth would no longer be ours--they would be doled out
to nations around the globe; our economy leveled to make us all equally poor. The
pattern of sound government and moral leadership created in America and offered
to the world for over two centuries has faded as we, ourselves, lose the pattern.
The goal of Agenda 21 is to restructure the lifestyles of
every person on earth by controlling private property, including food,
transportation, and family size. Under Agenda 21, private ownership of land
will disappear. This major reorientation would prohibit individual rights and
entrench government rights. Individual agency—the right to choose—would become
a distant memory.
Posed as “sustainable development”, this movement is
creeping through America, driven by local and state officials who are ignorant
of its true agenda and are wooed by the government funds it offers. American
presidents have succumbed, either innocently or deliberately: Bill Clinton,
both George Bushes, and our current president fully embraced worldwide Agenda
21.
Under Agenda 21, the inalienable rights previously given to
people belong, instead, to the land, itself—a ludicrous concept. Its advocates
say land is too valuable to waste on individuals who generate wealth through
its use, thereby creating social injustice. The possession of private property
is denied in multiple ways: outright seizure, condemning, restricting or
dictating use of lands, or through zoning mandates and land easements. Land
ownership, whether from homeowners, farmers, or industry, then falls to the
all-powerful government which determines its use, consumes its profits and
disperses them at its will throughout the globe. No assurance is given that the
profit from the land will return to those who worked to earn it.
The right to own property--anything one possesses, including
life, itself--is fundamental to freedom. God, Himself, instituted property
rights, inherent in His commandment to Adam and Eve to replenish and subdue the
earth. Our Founders solidified property rights in the Constitution. If we do
not own property—food, shelter, transportation--we are at the mercy of those
who do for our maintenance and even our lives. Your life is also your property,
and those who advocate government domination, such as Agenda 21 proposes, have historically
disrespected the lives of those they control.
Agenda 21 is part of the fundamental change promised in the
elections of 2008 and 2012. Omitted from the campaign rhetoric was the reality
that those changes will eliminate the middle class, dropping all of us into
poverty. This movement is well underway; Florida, for example, has locked up
over 2,000,000 acres of land from public use since 1990. These policies are being drafted and
implemented nationwide without the sanction of constitutional process. Under
our United States Constitution the laws and policies that govern us are to be
created by those we elect to do so. Any other method of law is tyrannical. The
policies and programs of Agenda 21 have not been drafted or voted upon by our
constitutional representatives. Presented as being in our best interest, Agenda
21 and other freedom-destroying movements will not improve our lives or keep us
safer.
Other lesser-known future proposals under Agenda 21 are alarming:
population control by government decree, with medical care denied to mother and
child in unauthorized pregnancies; severely restricted transportation choices,
fuel availability and vehicle use; substantially increased taxation; government-set
limits on water usage and allowable waste; and forced community action. Agenda
21 would allow government planners to enter your home and control your actions
within—a major assault to your personal liberty.
This movement is emphatically not in our best
interests, either as free individuals or as a free nation. Involved citizens can
have a real impact in refusing Agenda 21 in their home communities and states.
I encourage the following to turn back this alarming
program:
First, educate others; talk to neighbors, family and other
concerned individuals. Create interest in this issue and investigate it
together. Effective community action works best when done in groups.
Second, contact local and state officials: your mayor and
city councilmen; your senator, state representative and governor. Explain and
discuss your concerns reasonably. Attend your city council meetings. Watch your
city government for “sustainable development”, “open space”, “critical
habitat”, “national heritage areas”, “the Wetlands Project” (designed to lock
up 50% of American lands) and similar terminology. Visit the website of the
International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the
organization driving Agenda 21, to learn if your community has signed on (go to
members, global members, U.S. and scroll down to look for your city). Investigate
proposed programs and their funding. Local officials often miss the implications
behind Agenda 21’s benign, even warm-hearted, friendly appearance. Teach them,
supervise, and express your confidence that they will refuse participation.
Third, watch your schools and your children’s homework for
signs of ICLEI. Look for materials that promote sustainable development and the
other “buzz words” mentioned above. Contact your principal and school board to
object when necessary, inform your friends and encourage them to join you. A
few voices can change policy.
Founding Father John Adams said that property must be secure
or liberty does not exist. It is by the use of our property in all its forms
that we exercise our freedom. Under Agenda 21 our inalienable rights of property
ownership are under attack. God gave us use of the earth in its fullness; it is
our God-given responsibility to keep it so.
- Pam
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