It’s
easy to stand in front of a friendly audience and dazzle them with
facts and figures, get them riled and then tell them to charge down to
city council as I make a quick exit from town. And I have done that many
times.
The truth is, however, I have never stood in front of
city councils or county commissions and endured their sarcasm as I tried
to question their policies or explain where it comes from.
So,
now, as more and more call my office asking what to do next, I felt it
was vital that I learn first hand how to fight back and then share that
experience to make our fight more effective and eventually successful in
stopping Sustainable Development. That’s what I’ve been doing in my
local community for the past five months. I’ve also been traveling
across the state of Virginia, working with local activists in their
communities and learning from them.
Recently I joined fellow
Virginia activist Donna Holt as we presented the case against
sustainable development to the staff of Virginia Attorney General Ken
Cuccinelli. We have also been successful so far in working with the
Virginia
legislature to move a bill that will end mandatory comprehensive
development plans in local communities. The sustainabilists have been
using legislation passed in Virginia in 2007 as an effective weapon to
force the policy on local communities. It hasn’t passed yet, but we
forced it out of committee over the objections of the VA Speaker of the
House. That alone was a victory in that it started debate on the issue,
something that has been missing at the state level. Such legislative
action can serve as a model for legislators around the nation.
The
fight has only begun, but I and these fellow activists are learning a
lot. So, to help all of the movement to take on the fight in their
community, I want to share what we’ve learned so far.
Be aware of the world in which your elected officials live
To
begin the effort to fight back against Sustainable Development it is
vital to first understand the massive structure you are facing. You need
to know who the players are and you need to understand the political
world your officials are operating in.
This may help you to
understand that perhaps they aren’t all evil globalists, but, perhaps,
good people who are surrounded by powers that won’t let them see the
reality of the policies they are helping to implement. I’m certainly not
making excuses for them, but before you rush in and start yelling about
their enforcing UN policies on the community, here are some things you
should consider.
In most communities, you mayor, city council
members and county commissioners are automatically members of national
organizations like the National Conference of Mayors, National League of
Cities, and the national associations for city council members, and the
same for commissioners.
Those in the state government also have
the National Governors Association and state legislators have their
national organization. For the past fifteen years or more, each and
every one of these national organizations have been promoting
Sustainable Development.
The National Mayors Conference and the
Governors Association have been leaders in this agenda, many times
working directly with UN organizations to promote the policy. This is
the message your local elected leaders hear; from the podium; from
fellow officials from other communities; from “experts” they’ve been
told to respect; in committee meetings; from dinner speakers; from
literature they are given at such meetings. They are told of legislation
that will be soon be implemented, and they are even provided sample legislation to introduce in their communities.
There
is also a second horde involved in the sustainablist invasion – state
and federal agency officials including EPA agents; air and water
quality agents; Interior Department officials, HUD officials, energy
officials, Commerce Department officials, and on and on – all targeting
your locally elected officials with policy, money, regulations, reports, special planning boards, meetings, and conferences, all promoting the exact same agenda.
And
don’t forget the news media, both locally and nationally, also
promoting the Sustainablist agenda, attacking anyone not going along,
ready to quickly use the "extremist" label.
The message is
clear – Sustainable Development is reality – politically correct,
necessary, unquestionable, and it has consensus.
Is your head
spinning yet? Think of the affect all of this has on a poor local
official who just thought he would run for office and serve his
community.
This is his reality. This is what he thinks
government is supposed to be because, after all, everyone he is dealing
with says so.
Now, as he is surrounded by all of these important,
powerful folks, along comes a local citizen who tells him that some guy
named Tom DeWeese says all of these programs are from the UN and are
taking away our liberty. Who? He said what? Come on, I’m not doing that.
And I don’t have time to talk about it. I have another meeting to go
to.
If we are going to successfully fight Agenda 21, it is
vitally important that we all recognize this reality as we plan to deal
with it and defeat it. With that in mind, I offer the following ideas.
HOW TO FIGHT BACK
Research:
Don’t even begin to open up a fight until you know certain details.
First who are the players in your community. What privately funded
“stakeholder” groups are there? What is their agenda? What other
communities have they operated in? What projects? What results? Who are
their members in your community? Are they residents or did they come
from“out of town?” (That could prove to be valuable information later in the fight).
Finding this information
may be the hardest of your efforts. They like to operate out of the
spotlight. It’s not likely that the town will carry official
documentation of who it is working with. It probably will require that
you attend lots of meetings and hearings. Take note of who is there and
their role. Do this quietly. Don’t announce to the community what you
are doing. Don’t make yourselves a target. You may have to ask questions
and that may raise some eyebrows. But stay out of the way as much as
possible.
Second, get all the details on the plans your community is working on. Has there already been legislation passed? Most of this information can be found on the town website. Knowing this information will help you put together a plan of action. Once you have it, you can begin to take your fight public.
With the information
you have gathered, begin to examine the effect the policies will have
on the community and its residents. Find who the victims of the
legislation may be. This will be of great value as you confront city
council. People understand victim stories – especially if it is them. It
is the best way to undermine the process.
You will find that Conservation Easements have raised taxes as much of the county land is removed from the tax rolls – someone has to make up for the lost revenue and the payment of easements.
Are
“stakeholder” groups helping to get landowners to sign up for the
easements – and if so – do they get any kind of kickbacks? Who are
getting the easements? You may find the rich land owners have found a
great loophole to cut their own property taxes as the middle class pays
for it.
Does the community plan call for reduction of energy use? If so, look for calls for energy audits
and taxes on energy use. The audits mean that the government has set a
goal to reduce energy use. It will follow that government agents are
going to come into your home to inspect your energy use. Then they are
going to tell you what must be done in your home to cut usage. That will
cost you money. Don’t fall for the line that it is all voluntary – to
help you save money. They haven’t gone to this much trouble to be
ignored. Regulations are not voluntary.
These are just a couple
of examples of what to look for as you do your research. There are many
more, including meters on wells to control water use, smart meters on
your thermostat to take away your control of your thermostat; non
elected boards and councils to control local development and implement
smart growth, leading to population growth; Public/Private Partnerships
with local and large corporations to “go Green;” creation of open space;
pushing back live stock from streams, enforcing sustainable farming
methods that restrict energy and water use in farming practices; and
much more. It all leads to higher costs and shortages, in the name of
environmental protection and conservation.
Your goal is to stop
Sustainable Development in your community. That means to stop the
creation of non-elected regional government councils that are difficult
to hold accountable. It means to stop local governments from taking
state and federal grants that come with massive strings attached to
enforce compliance. And it means you must succeed in removing outsider
organizations and Stakeholder groups that are pressuring your elected
officials to do their bidding.
Civic Action: Armed with as much
information as you can gather (and armed with the ability to coherently
discuss its details) you are ready to take you battle to the public.
First, it would be better for you to try to discuss it privately with
some of your elected officials, especially if you know them. Tell them
what you have found and explain why you are opposed.
First
discuss the effects of the policies on the average citizen. Explain why
they are bad. Slowly being the conversation around to the origin of such
polices – Agenda 21 and the UN. Don’t start there. It is important that
you build the case to show that these policies are not local, but part
of a national and international agenda. If this conversation does not go
well (and it probably won’t) then you have to take it to the next level
– to the public.
Begin a two fold campaign. First, write a
series of letters to the editor for the local newspaper. Make sure that
you are not alone. Coordinate your letters with others who will also
write letters to back up and support what you have written.
These
will generate more letters from others, some for your position and
other against you. Be prepared to answer those against you as they are
probably written by those “Stakeholders” who are implementing the
policies in the first place. This may be a useful place for you to use
what you’ve learned about these groups to discredit them.
Second,
begin to attend Council meetings and ask questions. The response from
the council members will determine your next move. If you are ignored
and your questions met with silence or hostility, prepare a news release
detailing your questions and the background you have as to why you
asked those questions.
Pass the news release out to the people
at the next meeting as well as the news media. Attend the next meeting
and the next demanding answers. Be sure to organize people to come with
you. Don’t try this alone.
If necessary, have demonstrators
outside city hall carrying signs or handing out flyers with the name and
picture of the officials who won’t answer your questions along with the
question you asked – including the details you have about the policy.
The
point in all of this is to make the issue public. Take away their
ability to hide the details from the public. Expose the hoards of
outsiders who are dictating policy in your community. Force the people
you elected to deal with YOU – not the army of self-appointed
“stakeholders” and government officials. Shine a very right spotlight on
the rats under the rock.
If the newspaper is with you, great,
but you will probably find it with the other side. It may be difficult
to get a fair shake in the newspaper or on radio. That’s why you deliver
your news releases to both the media and the public. Get signs, and
flyers in stores if necessary. And keep it up for as long as it takes.
Have the tenacity of the folks in Egypt who would not leave the
demonstration until they had acquired victory.
The final step is
to use the energy you have created to run candidates for office against
those who have ignored and fought you. Ultimately, that is the office
holders worst nightmare and may be the most effective way to get them to
respond and serve their constituents.
FIGHTING ICLEI
If
ICLEI is in your city, the details about Agenda 21 and the UN connection
is easier. Your community is paying them dues with your tax dollars.
Here is how to handle them: if your council derides your statements that
their policies come from the UNs Agenda 21, simply print out the home
page from ICLEI’s web site – www.iclie.org.
This will have all of the UN connections you’ve been talking about, in ICLIE’s own words.
Pass
out the web page copies to everyone in the chamber audience and say to
your elected officials, “don’t call me a radical simply for reporting
what ICLEI openly admits on its own web site.
I’m just the one
pointing it out – you are the ones who are paying our tax dollars to
them.Then demand that those payments stop. You have proven your case.
STOPPING CONSENSUS MEETINGS
Most
public meetings are now run by trained and highly paid facilitators
whose jobs is to control the meeting and bring it to a preplanned
conclusion. If he is good at his job, the facilitator can actually make
the audience think the “consensus” they have reached on and issue or
proposal is actually their idea.
This is how Sustainable
Development is being implemented across the nation, especially in
meetings or planning boards that are advertised as open to the public.
They really don’t want you there and the tactic is used to move forward
in full view of the public without them knowing what is happening.
There is nothing free or open about the consensus process. It is designed to eliminate debate and close discussion.
To
bust up the process you must never participate, even to answer a
question. To do so allows the facilitator to make you part of the
process. Instead, you must control the discussion.
Here is a
quick suggestion on how to foul up the works. Never go alone to such a
meeting. You will need at least three people – the more the better. Do
not sit together. Instead, fan out in the room in a triangle formation.
Know ahead of time the questions you want to ask: Who is the facilitator?
What is his association with the organizers?
Is he being paid?
Where did these programs (being proposed) come from?
How are they to be funded?
One
question to ask over and over again, both at facilitated meetings and
city council meetings, is this: “With the implementation of this policy,
tell me a single right or action I have on my property that doesn’t
require your approval or involvement. What are my rights as a property
owner?”
Make them name it. You will quickly see that they too understand there are no property rights left in America.
By
asking these questions you are putting his legitimacy in question,
building suspicion among the rest of the audience, destroying his
authority. He will try to counter, either by patronizing and humoring
you, at first, or, then becoming hostile, moving to have you removed as a
disruptive force. That’s where the rest of your group come in.
They
need to back you up, demand answers to your questions. If you have
enough people in the room you can cause a major disruption, making it
impossible for the facilitator to move forward with his agenda. Do not
walk out and leave the room to him. Stay to the end and make him shut
down the meeting.
IN CONCLUSION...
These suggestions on
how to fight back are, admittedly, very basic and elementary. They are
meant only to be a guideline. You will have to do your homework and
adapt these tactics to your local situation. These tactics are designed
to create controversy and debate to force the Agenda 21 issue out of the
secret meetings and into public debate where they belong.
Many
of these same tactics can be used at all levels of government, right up
and into the state legislature. Our plan is to demand answers from
elected officials who want to ignore us. They must be taught that such
actions have consequences.
As we learn new, successful tactics,
I'll share them with activists across the nation. The Americans Policy
Center is now in the process of creating a new website devoted to
Sustainable Development where activists across the nation can share
their findings, successful tactics and research with the rest of the
movement.
The website, not yet in action, is www.sustainabledevelopment.com. Watch for it.
The
exciting news is that, finally, Americans are beginning to understand
that Agenda 21 is destroying our nation and they are beginning to fight
back.
The battle to stop the UN’s Agenda 21 is flaming across the nation.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=3af5d41d21ad9fce53c86ba9d&id=50818a3857&e=a3672262a8
(March 7, 2011) For the past fifteen years my efforts against Agenda 21
and Sustainable Development have been single-minded – get the message
out to tell people about what it is and why it is dangerous to our way
of life. All of our materials, special reports, hand outs, speeches,
radio and television interviews and DVDs have been created for that
purpose.
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