SPECIAL REPORT

Agenda 21

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

And

How to Stop It
Produced by American Policy Center

Designed and produced by:

American Policy Center
www.americanpolicy.org
Special thanks to Commissioner Richard Rothschild
who designed most of graphics in this booklet

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Edition 1.3, August 2016

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About the American Policy Center

The American Policy Center (APC), located in suburban Washington, D.C.,
is a privately funded, nonprofit, 501 c (4), tax-exempt grassroots action and
education foundation dedicated to the promotion of free enterprise and limited
government regulations over commerce and individuals.
APC believes that the free market, through its inherent system of checks and balances, including private ownership of property, is the best method yet devised for
creating individual wealth, full employment, goods and services, and protecting
the natural environment.
APCs approach to establishing free market policy is rooted in the conviction that
a well-informed American public is the best guarantee that U.S. policy will be
guided by a keen awareness of the complexity of world politics and Americas role
in it.
To these ends, the American Policy Center has developed a wide range of programs designed to enhance national awareness of crucial global and domestic
developments. In particular, APC focuses on the issues of environmental policy
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To promote its positions, APC publishes The DeWeese Report and occasionally special reports. Both are available through subscription. In addition, APC
principals regularly appear on radio and television talk shows, and speak publicly
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Sustainable Development:
The Transformation of America
By Tom DeWeese

Some think that the planet is in danger of global warming and over consumption. They really believe that the only way to fix the problem is to control the
flow of resources and wealth, which literally means changing human civilization
and the way we live. The problem is, that requires a forced transformation of our
entire society to comply, and that ultimately leads to a thirst for power and topdown control that will eventually lead to tyranny.
In his book, Earth in the Balance, Al Gore warned that a wrenching transformation must take place to lead America away from the horrors of the Industrial
Revolution. The process to do that is called Sustainable Development and its
roots can be traced back to a UN policy document called Agenda 21, adopted at
the UNs Earth Summit in 1992.
Sustainable Development calls for changing the very infrastructure of the nation,
away from private ownership and control of property to nothing short of central
planning of the entire economy often referred to as top-down control.
Where and whendid the term Sustainable Development originate?

The term sustainable development was born in the pages of Our Common Future, the official report of the 1987 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, authored by Gro Harlem Brundtland, Vice President
of the World Socialist Party. For the first time the environment was tied to the
tried and true Socialist goals of international redistribution of wealth. Said the
report, Poverty is a major cause and effect of global environmental problems.
It is therefore futile to attempt to deal with environmental problems without a
broader perspective that encompasses the factors underlying world poverty and
international inequality.
The term appeared in full force in 1992, in a United Nations initiative called the
U.N. Sustainable Development Agenda 21, or as it has become known around the
world, simply Agenda 21. It was unveiled at the 1992 United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development (UNCED), ballyhooed as the Earth Summit.
In fact, the Earth Summit was one of the provisions called for in the Brundtland
report as a means of implementing Sustainable Development around the world.
More than 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 as official policy. President George
H.W. Bush was the signatory for the United States.

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What is Sustainable Development?

The 1989 Websters Dictionary defines Sustainable Yield as a requirement that
trees cut down in a forest area be replaced by new plantings to ensure future
lumber supplies. Thats what most people think Sustainable Development means.
Proponents of Sustainable Development argue that it is about preserving resources for future generations. Whats wrong with that? Nothing in theory. That would
be sustainable with a small s. Just common sense usage of natural resources.
The problem is, major forces now promoting it intend for Sustainable Development to be spelled with a capital S. They intend for a Socio-economic political
movement that probes, invades and changes every aspect of human civilization.
And thats the problem.
Imagine an America in which a specific ruling principle is created to decide
proper societal conduct for every citizen. That principle would be used to consider regulations guiding everything you eat, the kind of home you are allowed to
live in, the method of transportation you use to get to work, what kind of work
you may have, the way you dispose of waste, perhaps even the number of children you may have, as well as the quality and amount of education your children
may receive. Sustainable development encompasses every aspect of our lives.
According to its authors, the objective of sustainable development is to integrate
economic, social, and environmental policies in order to achieve reduced consumption, social equity, and the preservation and restoration of biodiversity.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

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Graphic by Richard Rothschild

The Sustainablists insist that society be transformed into feudal-like governance

by making Nature the central organizing principle for our economy and society,
not human need or wants. This idea essentially elevates nature above Man. As
such, every societal decision would first be questioned as to how it might effect
the environment. To achieve this, Sustainablist policy focuses on three components; land use, education, and population control and reduction.

Here is a direct quote from the report of the 1976 UNs Habitat I conference
which said: Land cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land
ownership is also a principle instrument of accumulation and concentration of
wealth, therefore, contributes to social injustice.
Some officials claim that Sustainable Development is just a local effort to protect
the environment and contain development -- just your local leaders putting
together a local vision for the community. Yet, the exact language and tactics for
implementation of Sustainable Development are being used in nearly every city
around the globe from Lewiston, Maine to Singapore. Local indeed.
In short, Sustainable Development is the process by which America is being reorganized around a central principle of state collectivism using the environment
as bait.
One of the best ways to understand what Sustainable Development actually is can
be found by discovering what is NOT sustainable.

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According to the UNs Biodiversity Assessment Report, items for our everyday
lives that are NOT sustainable include: Ski runs, grazing of livestock, plowing of
soil, building fences, industry, single family homes, paved and tarred roads, logging activities, dams and reservoirs, power line construction, and economic systems that fail to set proper value on the environment (capitalism, free markets).
Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UNs Rio Earth Summit in 1992 said,
Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class
involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work airconditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.
This goal is exactly the policies that are written into such legislation as Cap and
Trade, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. It is also the policy behind the
many corporate commercials seen nightly on television which advocate Going
Green. They are all part of the efforts to modify American consumer behavior
to accept less, deal with higher energy prices, restrict water use and place severe
limitations on use of private property all under the environmental excuse.
And one of the most destructive tools used to enforce Sustainable Development
policy is something called the precautionary principle. That means that any activities that might threaten human health or the environment should be stopped
-- even if no clear cause and effect relationship has been established and even if
the potential threat is largely theoretical.
That makes it easy for any activist group to issue concerns or warnings by news
release or questionable report against and industry or private activity, and have
those warnings quickly turned into public policy just in case.
Many are now finding non-elected regional governments and governing councils
enforcing policy and regulations. As these policies are implemented, locallyelected officials are actually losing their own power and decision-making ability
in their elected offices. More and more decisions are now being made behind the
scenes in non-elected sustainability councils armed with truckloads of federal
regulations, guidelines, and grant money.

The three Es

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According to its authors, the objective of Sustainable Development is to integrate

economic, social, and environmental policies in order to achieve reduced consumption, social equity, and the preservation and restoration of biodiversity.
The Sustainable Development logo used in most literature on the subject contains
three connecting circles labeled Social Equity; Economic Prosperity; and Ecological Integrity (known commonly as the 3 Es).

Social Equity
Sustainable Developments Social Equity plank is based on a demand for social
justice. Social Justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people to
benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment.
According to Sustainablist doctrine, it is a social injustice for some to have
prosperity if others do not. It is a social injustice to keep our borders closed. It is
a social injustice for some to be bosses and others to be merely workers. Social
justice is a major premise of Sustainable Development. Another word for social
justice is Socialism or Marxism. Karl Marx was the first to coin the phrase social
justice.
Most recently the theory of social justice has been used to justify government
takeover of health care. Today, the phrase is used throughout Sustainablist literature. The Sustainablist system is based on the principle that individuals must
give up selfish wants for the needs of the common good, or the community.
This is the same policy behind the push to eliminate our nations borders to allow
the migration of those from other nations into the United States to share our
individually-created wealth and our taxpayers-paid government social programs.
Say the Sustainablists, Justice and efficiency go hand in hand. Borders, they
say, are unjust.
Under the Sustainablist system, private property is an evil that is used simply to
create wealth for a few. So too, is business ownership. Instead, every worker/
person will be a direct capital owner. Property and businesses are to be kept in
the name of the owner, keeping them responsible for taxes and other expenses,
however control is in the hands of the community (government).
Under Sustainable Development individual human wants, needs, and desires are
to be conformed to the views and dictates of social planners. Harvey Ruvin, Vice
Chair of the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
said: individual rights will have to take a back seat to the collective in the process of implementing Sustainable Development.

Economic Prosperity
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Sustainable Developments economic policy is based on one overriding premise:

that the wealth of the world was made at the expense of the poor. It dictates that,
if the conditions of the poor are to be improved, wealth must first be taken from
the rich. Consequently, Sustainable Developments economic policy is based, not
on private enterprise, but on public/private partnerships.
In Americas free-market of the past, most businesses were started by individuals
who saw a need for a product or service and they set out to fill it. Some businesses prospered to become huge corporations, some remained small mom and
pop shops, others failed and dissolved. Most business owners were happy to be
left alone to take their chances to run their businesses on their own, not encumbered by a multiplicity of government regulations. If they failed, most found a
way to try again. In the beginning of the American Republic, governments main
involvement was to guarantee they had the opportunity to try.
In order to give themselves an advantage over competition, some businesses -particularly large corporations now find a great advantage in dealing directly
with government, actively lobbying for legislation that will inundate smaller
companies with regulations that they cannot possibly comply with or even keep
up with. This government/big corporation back-scratching has always been a
dangerous practice because economic power should be a positive check on government power, and vise versa. If the two should ever become combined, control
of such massive power can lead only to tyranny. One of the best examples of this
was the Italian model in the first half of the Twentieth Century under Mussolinis
Fascism.
Together, select business leaders who have agreed to help government impose
Sustainablist green positions in their business policies, and officials at all levels
of government are indeed merging the power of the economy with the force of
government in Public/Private Partnerships on the local, state and federal levels.
As a result, Sustainable Development policy is redefining free trade to mean
centralized global trade freely crossing (or eliminating) national borders. It
definitely does not mean people and companies trading freely with each other. Its
real effect is to redistribute American manufacturing, wealth, and jobs out of our
borders and to lock away American natural resources. After the regulations have
been put in place, literally destroying whole industries, new green industries
created with federal grants bring newfound wealth to the partners. This is what
Sustainablists refer to as economic prosperity.
The Sustainable Development partnerships include some corporations both
domestic and multination. They in turn are partnered with the politicians who
use their legislative and administrative powers to raid the treasury to fund and
enforce the scheme.
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Of course, as the chosen corporations, which become a new elite, stamp out the
need for competition through government power, the real loser is the consumers who no longer count in market decisions. Government grants are now being
used by industry to create mandated green products like wind and solar power.
Products are put on the market at little risk to the industry, leaving consumers a
more limited selection from which to choose. True free markets are eliminated
in favor of controlled economies which dictate the availability and quality of
products.

Ecological Integrity
Nature has an integral set of different values (cultural, spiritual and material)
where humans are one strand in natures web and all living creatures are considered equal. Therefore the natural way is the right way and human activities
should be molded along natures rhythms. from the UNs Biodiversity Treaty
presented at the 1992 UN Earth Summit.
This quote lays down the ground rules for the entire Sustainable Development
agenda. It says humans are nothing special just one strand in the nature of
things or, put another way, humans are simply biological resources. Sustainablist policy is to oversee any issue in which man interacts with nature which, of
course, is literally everything. And because the environment always comes first,
there must be great restrictions over private property ownership and control.
This is necessary, Sustainablists say, because humans only defile nature.
Under Sustainable Development there can be no concern over individual rights.
Individual human wants, needs, and desires are conformed to the views and
dictates of social planners. The UNs Commission on Global Governance said
in its 1995 report: Human activitycombined with unprecedented increases in
human numbersare impinging on the planets basic life support system. Action
must be taken now to control the human activities that produce these risks
Under Sustainable Development, limited government, as advocated by our
Founding Fathers, is impossible because, we are told, the real or perceived environmental crisis is too great. Only government can be trusted to respond. Maurice Strong, Chairman of the 1992 UN Earth Summit said: A shift is necessary
toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally-damaging consumption patterns.
The shift will require a vast strengthening of the multilateral system, including
the United Nations.
The politically based environmental movement provides Sustainablists camouflage as they work to transform the American systems of government, justice,
and economics. It is a masterful mixture of socialism (with its top down control
of the tools of the economy) and fascism (where property is owned in name only
with no individual owner control). Sustainable Development is the worst of
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both the left and the right. It is not liberal, nor is it conservative. It is a new kind
of tyranny that, if not stopped, will surely lead us to a new Dark Ages of pain and
misery yet unknown to mankind.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

The Reinvention of Government

Six months after his inauguration, President Bill Clinton issued Executive Order
#12852 which created the Presidents Council On Sustainable Development
(PCSD) on June 29 1993.
The Councils Membership included:
Twelve Cabinet-level Federal Officials
Jonathan Lash, Pres. World Resources Institute
John Adams, Ex. Dir. National Resources Defense Council
Dianne Dillon-Ridgley, Pres. Zero Population
Michelle Perrault, International V.P., Sierra Club
John C. Sawhill, Pres. The Nature Conservancy
Jay D. Hair, Pres. World Conservation Union (IUCN)
Kenneth L. Lay, CEO, Enon Corporation
William D. Ruckelshaus, Chm., Browning-Ferris Industries & former EPA
Administrator
Some of these members were representatives of the same groups which helped
write Agenda 21 at the UN level, now openly serving on the Presidents Council to create policy for the implementation of Sustainable Development at the
federal level
.
With great fanfare the Council issued a comprehensive report containing all the
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guidelines on how our government was to be reinvented under sustainable development. Those guidelines were created to direct policy for every single federal
agency, state government and local community government.
Their purpose was to translate the recommendations set forth in Agenda 21 into
public policy administered by the federal government. They created the American version of Agenda 21 called Sustainable America - A New Consensus.

The four part process leading

to Sustainable Development
So how is this wrenching transformation being put into place? There are four
very specific routes being used. In the rural areas its called the Wildlands Project. In the cities its called Smart Growth. In business its called Public/Private
Partnerships. And in government its called Stakeholder Councils.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

The Wildlands Project

WE MUST MAKE THIS PLACE AN INSECURE AND INHOSPITABLE PLACE
FOR CAPITALISTS AND THEIR PROJECTS... WE MUST RELCAIM THE
ROADS AND PLOWED LANDS, HALT DAM CONSTRUCTION, TEAR DOWN
EXISTING DAMS, FREE SHACKLED RIVERS AND RETURN TO WILDERNESS MILLIONS OF TENS OF MILLIONS OF ACRES OF PRESENTLY SETTLED LAND.
Dave Foremen, Earth First.
The Wildlands Project was the brainchild of Earth Firsts Dave Foreman and it
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literally calls for the re-wilding of 50% of all the land in every state back to
the way it was before Christopher Columbus set foot on this land.
It is a diabolical plan to herd humans off the rural lands and into human settlements. Crazy you say! Yes. Impossible? Not so fast. From Foreman, the plan
became the blueprint for the UNs Biodiversity Treaty and quickly became international in scope.
But how do you remove people from the land? One step at a time. Lets begin
with a biosphere reserve. A national park will do. A huge place where there is no
human activity. For example, Yellowstone National Park, devoid of human habitation can serve as its center. Then a buffer zone is established around the reserve.
Inside the buffer only limited human activity is allowed. Slowly, through strict
regulations, that area is squeezed until human activity becomes impossible.
Once that is accomplished, the biosphere is extended to the former buffer zone
borders and then a new buffer zone is created around the now-larger biosphere
and the process starts again. In that way, the Biosphere Reserve acts like a cancer
cell, ever expanding, until all human activity is stopped.
And there are many tools in place to stop human activity and grow the reserve.
Push back livestocks access to river banks on ranches, many times as much as .
300. When the cattle cant reach the stream, the rancher cant water them -- he
goes out of business. Lock away natural resources by creating national parks. It
shuts down the mines -- and they go out of business. Invent a Spotted Owl shortage and pretend it cant live in a forest where timber is cut. Shut off the forest.
Then, when no trees are cut, theres nothing to feed the mills and then there are
no jobs, and -- they go out of business.
Locking away land cuts the tax base. Eventually the town dies. Keep it up and
there is nothing to keep the people on the land so they head to the cities. The
wilderness grows just like Dave Foreman planned.
It comes in many names and many programs. Heritage areas, land management, wolf and bear reintroduction, rails to trails, conservation easements,
open space, and many more. Each of these programs is designed to make it just
a little harder to live on the land a little more expensive a little more hopeless,
literally herding people off their land and into designated human habitat areas
cities.
In the West, where vast areas of open space make it easy to impose such polices
there are several programs underway to remove humans from the land. Today,
there are at least 31 Wildlands projects underway, locking away more than 40
percent of the nations land. The Alaska Wildlands Project seeks to lock away
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and control almost the entire state. In Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana parts of North and South Dakota, parts of California, Arizona, Nevada,
New Mexico, Wyoming, Texas, Utah, and more, there are at least 22 Wildlands
Projects underway. For example, one project called Yukon to Yellowstone (Y2Y)
creates a 2000 mile no-mans land corridor from the Arctic to Yellowstone.
East of the Mississippi, there are at least nine Wildlands projects, covering Maine,
Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, North and
South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Watch for names of Wildlands Projects
like Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Appalachian Restoration Project and Piedmont
Wildlands Project.

Smart Growth

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

The second path is called Smart Growth. The process essentially puts a line
around a city, locking off any growth outside that line. Such growth is disdainfully labeled Urban Sprawl. The plan then curtails the building of more roads to
cut off access to the newly created rural area. Inside the circle, concerted efforts
are made to discourage the use of cars in preference to public transportation,
restricting mobility.
Because there is a restriction on space inside the controlled city limits, there is a
created shortage of land and houses, so prices go up. That means populations will
have to be controlled, because now there is no room to contain more people.
Cities are now passing green regulations, forcing homeowners to meet strict
guidelines for making their homes environmentally compliant, using specific
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building materials, forcing roof replacements, demanding replacement of appliances, and more. Those not in compliance will be fined and will not be able to sell
their homes. There are now efforts underway to impose so-called smart meters
which replace thermostats in homes. Homeowners will not have control of such
meters. Instead, the electric company will determine the necessary temperature
inside each home. Government agencies or local policy boards will be tasked
with the responsibility to conduct an energy audit in each home to determine the
steps necessary to bring the home into energy compliance. In Oakland, California, such restrictions will cost each homeowner an estimated $36,000.
The Cap N Trade bill contains a whole section on such restrictions for the nation, and most local communities are now busy creating development plans that
encompass many of the same restrictions.
There is now a new push to control food production under the label of Sustainable Farming. Food sheds are now being advocated. These are essentially government run farms located just outside the smart growth area circling the city. Food
is to be grown using strict guidelines which dictate what kinds of food is to be
produced and the farming practices to be used. These are essentially based on the
blue print of Chinese Agrarian villages that cannot possibly grow enough food to
feed the community unless populations are tightly controlled. True Sustainable
farming programs discourage importing goods from outside the community.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

Stake Holder Councils

Inside the cities, government is increasingly controlled by an elite ruling class

called stake holder councils. These are mostly Non-governmental organizations,
or NGOs, which, like thieves in the night, converge on the community to stake
their claim to enforce their own private agendas. The function of legitimately
elected government within the system votes to create a system of boards, councils
and even regional governments to handle every aspect of day-to-day operation
of the community. Once in place, the councils and boards basically replace the
power of elected officials with non-elected, appointed rulers answerable to no
one.
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The councils are controlled by a small minority in the community, but they are
all- powerful. They force citizens to seek permission (usually denied) for any
changes to private property. They use such excuses as historic preservation, water
use restrictions, energy use, and open space restrictions. They will dictate that
homeowners must use special green light bulbs and force stores to only use
paper bags, for example.
They over-burden or even destroy business, creating stiff regulations on manufacturing and small business in the community. They may dictate the number
of outlets a business may have in a community, not matter what the population
demands. For example, in San Francisco there can only be seven McDonalds.
They can dictate the kind of building materials owners can use in their private
home or whether one can build on their property at all. Then, if they do grant a
permit for building, they might not decide to let the property owner acquire water and electricity for the new home and they may or may not give you a reason
for being turned down.
As part of Sustainable health care, they may even dictate that you get the proper
exercise as determined by the government. Again, San Francisco has built a
new federal building the greenest ever built. The elevators will only stop on every third floor so riders are forced to use stairs for their own health, of course.
These councils fit almost perfectly the definition of a State Soviet: a system of
councils that report to an apex council and then implement a predetermined
outcome. Soviets are the operating mechanism of a government-controlled
economy.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

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Public/Private Partnerships
The fourth path to imposing Sustainable Development is Public/Private Partnerships (PPPs). Unfortunately, today, many Conservative/Libertarian organizations
are presenting PPPs as free enterprise and a private answer for keeping taxes
down by using business to make a better society.
There are certain areas where private business contracts to do jobs such as running school cafeterias through a competitive bid system. That type of arrangement certain does serve the tax payers and provides better services. Thats not
how PPPs are used though Sustainable Development.
In truth, many PPPs are nothing more than government-sanctioned monopolies
in which a few businesses are granted special favors like tax breaks, the power
of eminent domain, non-compete clauses and specific guarantees for return on
their investments. That means they can fix prices, charge beyond what the market
demands, and they can use the power of government to put competition out of
business. That is not free enterprise. And it is these global corporations that are
pushing the green agenda.
PPPs were the driving force behind the Trans Texas Corridor, using eminent domain to take more than 580,000 acres of private land - sanctioned by the partnership with the Texas government. And PPPs are taking over highways and local
water treatment plants in communities across the nation. PPPs in control of the
water system can control water consumption a major part of the Sustainable
Development blueprint.
Fueled by federal grant programs through the EPA, the auto industry has produced and forced onto the market green cars that no one wants to buy, such as
the Chevy Volt. For its part of the partnership, government passed regulations
that keep gas prices high to make them more inviting.
The federal government has entered into many partnerships with alternative
energy companies in a move to force wind power and solar power on an uninterested public. Again, such industries only exist though the power and of government determined to enforce a certain political agenda. They would never survive
in an honest free market.
Using government to ban its own product, General Electric is forcing the mercury-laden green light bulb, costing 5 times the price of incandescent bulbs. Such
is the reality of green industry, which depends more on government subsidy and
grants than on customers.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the root of the Free
Trade process and the fuel for PPPs between international corporations and
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government, thereby creating an elite class of connected businesses or what

Ayn Rand called the power of pull. Success in the PPP world is not based on
quality of product and service, but on who you know in high places. To play ball
in the PPP game means accepting the mantra of Sustainable Development and
helping to implement it, even if it means going against your own product. Thats
why Home Depot uses its commercials to oppose cutting down trees and British
Petroleum advocates reducing the use of oil.
It is not free enterprise, but a Mussolini-type fascism of government and private
industry organized in a near impenetrable force of power. And its all driven by
the Agenda 21 blueprint of Sustainable Development.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

What kinds of groups promote this in the U.S.A.?

Many Americans ask how dangerous international policies can suddenly turn up
in state and local government, all seemingly uniform to those in communities
across the nation and around the globe.
The answer meet ICLEI, a non-profit, private foundation, dedicated to helping locally elected representatives fully implement Agenda 21 in the community.
Originally known as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), today the group simply calls itself ICLEI Local Governments for
Sustainability.
In 1992, ICLEI was one of the groups instrumental in creating Agenda 21. The
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groups mission is to push local communities to transform the way governments

operate, creating a community plan, creating a wide range of non-elected planning and councils which then impose severe regulations and oversight policies,
affecting every homeowner, every business, every school; literally every aspect of
the citizens lives. And its having tremendous success.
Currently there are over 600 American cities in which ICLEI is being paid dues
with tax dollars from city councils to implement and enforce Sustainable Development. ICLEI is there to assure that the mayors keep their promises and meet
their goals. Climate change and the goal to cut the communities carbon footprint
is, of course, the ICLEI mantra.
Heres just some of the programs ICLEI provides cities and towns, in order to
spread their own particular political agenda in the name of community services
and environmental protection, they include:
Software programs to help set the goals for community development which
leads to controlling use of private property;
Access to a network of Green experts, newsletters, conferences and workshops
to assure all city employees are in the process;
Toolkits, online resources, case studies, fact sheets, policy and practice manuals,
and blueprints used by other communities;
Training workshops for staff and elected officials on how to develop and implement the programs;
And, of course, theres Notification of relevant grant opportunities this is the
important one money with severe strings attached.
ICLEI recommends that the community hire a full time sustainability manager,
who, even in small towns, can devote 100% of his time to assure that every nook
and corner of the government is on message and under control.
Using environmental protection as the excuse, these programs are about reinventing government with a specific political agenda. ICLEI and others are
dedicated to transforming every community in the nation to the Agenda 21
blueprint. .
In addition to ICLEI, groups like the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy and
Audubon Society, NGOs which also helped write Sustainable Development
policy have chapters in nearly every city. They know that Congress has written
legislation providing grants for cities that implement Sustainablist policy. They
agitate to get the cities to accept the grants. If a city rejects the plan, they then
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agitate to the public, telling them that their elected representatives have cost the
city millions in their tax dollars. In the end, through such tactics, the NGOs
usually get their way.
The NGOs are joined in their efforts by professional planning groups and associations such as the American Planning Association (APA), The Renaissance
Planning Group, and the International City/County Management association
(ICMA). IN fact there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of non-profits,
NGOs and planning groups living off the grant money, working to enforce Sustainable Development policy at every level of government.

Here are just a few to watch for:

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

The American Planning Association (APA) is the nations leading enforcer of

Sustainable policy. It came into being in 1978 and can be found in literally every
community in the nation. It doesnt have the same open ties to the UN as does
ICLEI, but is every bit as involved, if not more so. The APAs Growing Smart
Legislative Guide Book is found in nearly every university, state and county in
the country. It is the planning guide preferred by most urban and regional planners. The American Planning Association is one of many members of the PCSD.
They partner with ICLEI & ICMA in the implementation of sustainable development.
ICMA, International City/County Management Association, is an organization of professional local government leaders building sustainable communities
worldwide.
ICMA provides technical and management assistance, training, and information resources in the areas of performance measurement, ethics education and
training, community and economic development, environmental management,
Page 20

technology, and other topics to its members and the broader local government
community.
They are aided in their efforts through such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors,
National Governors Association, National League of Cities, the National Association of County Administrators and several more groups that are supposed to
represent elected officials.
The Renaissance Planning Group is an urban planning firm. They played a critical role in Floridas Forever Program. The Forever Program is Floridas premier
conservation and recreation lands acquisition program. Florida Forever is the
largest public land acquisition program of its kind in the United States. With
approximately 9.8 million acres of conservation land in Florida, more than 2.4
million acres were purchased under the Florida Forever and P2000 programs. In
2007, the Virginia state legislature passed HB 3202 mandating that counties with
the prescribed growth rate establish high density urban development areas. As a
result, to date, 67 counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia are required to establish urban development areas. The process and proposed land use planning
that is being implemented, follows the very same policies called for in Agenda
21s biodiversity plan. This requirement by the state forces local governments to
compromise your private property through zoning measures called for in the
Smart Growth program for sustainable development.
The American Farmland Trust (AFT) formed in 1980, works to acquire and control farmer development rights and the purchase of Agriculture Easements which
drastically reduce, if not eliminate private ownership of the land.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

Page 21

The danger is in the Process

Sustainable policies are being sold universally to the public as a means to protect
the environment and control growth. That is simply the excuse for the policies
being implemented in its name. The real problem is the PROCESS through
which Sustainable Development is being forced on unsuspecting citizens. The
comprehensive land use plans are being steered by planning groups through manipulation by facilitated stakeholder consensus councils. Though their meetings
are open to the public, they are void of any public input. The predetermined
outcome severely restricts land use and compromises private property ownership
in an already distressed market. They answer to no one and they are run by zealots with their own political agenda imposing international laws and regulations.
Local homeowners have no say in the process and in most cases are shut out.
Sometimes they are literally thrown out of council meetings because they want to
discuss how a regulation is going to affect their property or livelihood.
Communities have dealt with local problems for 200 years. Some use zoning, some dont. But locally elected town councils and commissioners, which
meet and discuss problems with the citizens, are how this nation was built and
prospered. Today, under Sustainable Development, NGOs like ICLEI and the
APA move in to establish non-elected boards, councils and regional government
bodies.
Despite the Senates refusal to ratify the Biodiversity Treaty in 1994, the Agenda
21 policies called for by the convention, are being implemented nationwide. No
matter where you live, rest assured Agenda 21 policies are being implemented in
your community.
Proponents of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development attempt to ridicule those
who oppose the programs as being paranoid radicals who are spreading conspiracy theories about what they call an obscure 20 year old UN document. Yet,
in 2012 the UN sponsored Rio+20, in which 50,000 delegates from around the
world to celebrate Agenda 21 and find means to complete its implementation.
Sustainable Development is not about saving the environment. It is about a
revolutionary coup in America. It is about establishing global governance and
abandoning the principles of Natural Law on which America was founded.
The politically-based environmental movement provides Sustainablists camouflage as they work to transform the American system of government, justice, and
economics. Its a masterful mixture of Socialism, (with its top-down control of
the tools of the economy); fascism (where property is owned in name only with
no private control); and Corporatism, (where partnerships between government
and private business create government sanctioned monopolies.) Sustainable
Development is the worst of both the left and the right. It is bad policy pushed
Page 22

by both liberal and conservatives. It is a new kind of tyranny that, if not stopped,
will surely lead all human kind to a new Dark Ages of pain and misery.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

Page 23

How to Fight Back Against

Sustainable Development
Be aware of the world in which your elected officials live.

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

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 arent all evil globalists,
but, perhaps, good people who are surrounded by powers that wont let them see
the reality of the policies they are helping to implement. Im 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 twenty years or more, each
and every one of these national organizations have been promoting Sustainable
Development and related policies. The National Mayors Conference and the
National Governors Association have been leaders in this agenda, many times
working directly with UN organizations to promote the policy. That is the message your local elected leaders hear; from the podium; from fellow officials from
other communities; from experts theyve been told to respect; in committee
meetings; from dinner speakers; from literature they are given at such meetings.
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They are told of legislation that will be soon be implemented, and they are even
provided sample legislation to introduce in their communities.

Back home, they are surrounded by a horde of stakeholder groups, each promoting a piece of the agenda, be it policies for water control, energy control, development control, specific building materials control, historic preservation and
control of downtown development, conservation easements and development
rights for control of rural property. These groups like ICLEI, the American Planning Association, the Renaissance Planning Group, and many more, are heavily
involved with state and federal plans. They arrive in your community with blue
prints, state and federal plans, grants and lots of contacts in high places. There
are official state and federal programs for going Green, Comprehensive land use
plans, and lots of programs for the kids in the classrooms.

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 dont 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 against them. 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, Im not doing that. And I dont 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

First and foremost, dont try to fight alone. If you try to attend local meetings by
yourself you will be ignored. You will need others to plan and implement stratPage 25

egy. You have family and friends. Start with them. Ask them to help look into
some local policies. Even if they start off skeptical about your concerns, it wont
take them long to see the truth. Check out of there is a local tea party or even a
local Republican group. Churches are a target of such policies. Alert people at
your church and ask them to help fight back. Find people to help you!

Research: Dont 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.
Its 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. Dont announce to the community what you are doing. Dont 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 or regulation 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 and help get people to join your cause.
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
makes up the short fall. This will help bring usually disinterested people to your
cause.
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 may 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. Dont
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fall for the line that it is all voluntary to help you save money. They havent 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 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 and controlling growth
(anti-sprawl, they call it).
Your goal is to stop Sustainable Development in your community. That means a
campaign 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 your 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. Only very slowly should
you bring the conversation around to the origin of such polices - Agenda 21 and
the UN. Dont 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 wont) 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 youve 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
Page 27

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. Dont 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 wont 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 roaches under the rock.

If the newspaper is with you, great, but you will probably find it working with
the other side. It may be difficult to get a fair shake in the newspaper or on radio.
Thats 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. Dont
stop the public demonstration until you had acquired victory, or at least started a
public debate.

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.

New tactic

As mentioned in the beginning, over the past couple of years, as weve educated
people on Agenda 21 and its UN origins, the natural reaction by concerned
citizens and activists has been to rush into city hall and accuse their elected
representatives of implementing international policies on the town. This has, of
course, been met with skepticism and ridicule on the part of some of the elected
officials (egged on by the NGO stakeholder groups and planning organizations).
Today, the promoters of Agenda 21, including ICLEI and the American Planning Association (APA) have worked overtime to paint our movement as crazed
conspiracy theorists wearing tin foil hats and hearing voices.
So, its time to change tactics.
Here is an undeniable fact: Agenda 21/Sustainable Development cannot be
enforced without usurping or diminishing private property rights. So, we need
to begin to challenge the plans that affect private property rights. However, as
we move in that direction, we must have a clear understanding of what property
rights are. Many people today have little or varying ideas of property rights.
Page 28

Forty years ago people understood things like No Trespassing, My home is

my castle, and step across that line and suffer the consequences. Such ideas
today seem quaint and antiquated to many, especially with government invading
private property at will. Sometimes, in order to purchase property or to get access
to services, we sign documents that say government or utility agents are free to
come on our property at will. The idea of Keep Out is almost unheard of. However, to demand that your private property be honored and protected a definition
must be established before you start the effort.
Attached is a document designed to provide such a definition and understanding of what we mean by private property rights. It is based on the ideas of John
Locke, the man who greatly influenced our Founding Fathers including Thomas
Jefferson. So using such definitions should fit in with the Founders intent as the
nations laws on property were written.

Second, once that definition has been established it can be used as a guideline for
drafting legislation and resolutions in state legislatures and city hall. It must also
be the guideline for the establishment of property rights councils.
Third, please find two more documents, one entitled Resolution to Protect
Citizens Property Rights, the other Planners Pledge to Uphold and Protect
Citizens Property Rights. These documents are guidelines. Change them to
fit your needs. I do not present these Resolutions as legal documents such as a
contract, though some try to turn them into that. If that is your plan, go ahead
and make it so. But we see them as a statement, a way to draw out your elected
officials.
The Resolution is for signatures by your elected representatives. The other is to
present to your elected representatives to ask them to have the planners that they
hire sign it. Use either or both as you wish. The Resolution automatically creates
a friction with the elected officials. If you have a strong, positive relationship with
them you may not want to force it on them. Then you would want to politely
present the Planners Pledge to ask them to have the planners sign it. Or you may
want to present both and demand that both entities sign their respective documents.
The way to use it is this: As you stand in front of the elected officials at their regular meeting, ask them simply, As you bring these planners into our community
and begin to implement their programs, what guarantees do I have that you will
protect my private property rights? At this point you havent mentioned Agenda
21, and you havent attacked planning. You are simply asking a non-combative
question. They will assure you that they are in full support of protecting private
property. And then you say, Well, Im happy to hear that. But, I would really like
to have that in writing. And you present the resolution to them. If you can read
it aloud to the meeting, so much the better. They may say they need to take it
Page 29

under consideration and will get back to you. Fine. Make sure you are back at the
next meeting to ask about it. If they say No. You simply ask Why? and take it
from there.
Do not attempt this alone. The key to this effort is persistence and organization. If they have refused to sign it then you need 5 or 10 people to stand up
and ask why. You need to escalate this at each meeting until it becomes a public
issue - Why wont your elected officials sign a simple document that says they
will protect your private property rights? What are they hiding in the plans they
are presenting to us? This can and will lead to protests, letters to the editor and
other media available to you. Put the elected officials names on signs carried by
protestors who are rallying outside the next council or planning meeting. Make
them the issue. What you are really doing is laying the ground work for a campaign to defeat them in the next election.
It is also important to do research into what planning groups, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) federal grants and agencies may be involved in the
process. All of them have a background. Find out who they are and what they
have done in the past in other communities and present that info to your fellow
citizens as a warning of what is to come. I recommend that you create a rapid
response team to be prepared to immediately respond in the media to anything
they do. Make them scared to act.

Fighting ICLEI

Graphic by Richard Rothschild

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 ICLEIs web
site www.iclei.org. This will have all of the UN connections youve been talking
Page 30

about, in ICLEIs own words. Pass out the web page copies to everyone in the
chamber audience and say to your elected officials, dont call me a radical simply
for reporting what ICLEI openly admits on its own web site. Im just the one
pointing it out you are the ones who are paying our tax dollars to them. Then
demand that those payment 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
dont 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 doesnt 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. Thats where the rest
of your group comes 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.

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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, Ill share them with activists across the nation. The Americans Policy Center is now a partner in a new effort to create
tactics and provide education to activists called Sustainable Freedom Lab. Here
activists across the nation can share their findings, successful tactics and research
with the rest of the movement. The website is www.sustainablefreedomlab.com.
The exciting news is that, finally, Americans are starting to understand that
Agenda 21 is destroying our nation and they are beginning to fight back. The
battle to stop the UNs Agenda 21 is ragging on the local level across the nation.

Property Rights Defined

Experts have left a clear understanding of what property means:

Property is defined by (Washington) state law. Board of Regents v. Roth, 408
U.S. 564, 92 S. Ct. 2701, 2709, 33 L. Ed. 2d 548 (1972). Our state, and most other
states, define property in an extremely broad sense.
- From Fifth Amendment treatise by State Supreme Court Justice Richard B.
Sanders (12/10/97)
Property in a thing consists not merely in its ownership and possession, but in
the unrestricted right of use, enjoyment, and disposal. Anything which destroys
any of the elements of property, to that extent, destroys the property itself. The
substantial value of property lies in its use. If the right of use be denied, the value
of the property is annihilated and ownership is rendered a barren right.
The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as
the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it,
anarchy and tyranny commence.
- President John Adams
Ultimately, property rights and personal rights are the same thing.
- President Calvin Coolidge
If you dont have the right to own and control property then you are property.
- Wayne Hage, rancher
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Private Property Rights means:

The owners exclusive authority to determine how private property is used;
The owners peaceful possession, control, and enjoyment of his/her legally purchased, deededprivate property;
The owners ability to make contracts to sell, rent, or give away all or part of the
legally purchased/deeded private property;
That local, city, county, state, and federal governments are prohibited from
exercising eminent domain for the sole purpose of acquiring legally purchased/
deeded private property so as to resell to a private interest or generate revenues;
That no local, city, county, state, or federal government has the authority to impose directives, ordinances, fees, or fines regarding aesthetic landscaping, color
selections, tree and plant preservation, or open spaces on legally purchased/
deeded private property;
That no local, city, county, state or federal government shall implement a land
use plan that requires any part of legally purchased/deeded private property be
set aside for public use or for a Natural Resource Protection Area directing that
no construction or disturbance may occur;
That no local, city, county, state, or federal government shall implement a law
or ordinance restricting the number of dwellings that may be placed on legally
purchased/deeded private property;
That no local, city, county, state, or federal government shall alter or impose
zoning restrictions or regulations that will devalue or limit the ability to sell
legally purchased/deeded private property;
That no local, city, county, state, or federal government shall limit profitable or
productive agriculture activities by mandating and controlling what crops and
livestock are grown on legally purchased/deeded private property;
That no local, city, county, state, or federal government representatives or their
assigned agents may enter private property without the written permission of the
property owner or is in possession of a lawful warrant from a legitimate court of
law. This includes invasion of property rights and privacy by government use of
unmanned drone flights.

Protecting Your Property Rights

While there are many forms of property, for the purposes of this brief pamphlet,
we are only going to discuss real estate property, the value, how easy it is to lose
them and how to protect your property rights. This is only a guide. Always consult your real estate attorney before taking any action that may risk your property
rights.
What is meant by my real estate property?
When you own a home your property consists of the land agreed to in your
purchase, the natural resources, minerals, crops, water and any buildings on your
land.
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What are my property rights?

You have the right to sell, transfer, lease, and develop your property. For instance,
you can build a swing set, remove a tree or build a swimming pool. The freedom
to make these changes increases your lands value to you and to buyers.
Who protects my property rights?
There are laws that protect these rights and prevent others from confiscating
or using your property without your express permission. The US Constitution
protects your property rights in the 5th amendment.
Why are my real estate property rights so important?
Real estate ownership is the main way Americans save money and accumulate
wealth. They use real estate to improve their lives, start businesses, and leave
money to their children. Homeowners tend to protect their surrounding environment and build more stability for their own future. When people lose all or
part of their property rights, they often lose their greatest source of wealth and
well-being.
How are my property rights lost or reduced?
Eminent domain:
The state can seize your private property without your consent to create public
facilities, highways, and railroads and for the purpose of economic development
or revenue enhancement. You are entitled to compensation, but the agency acquiring your property calculates the payment, which is often inadequate.
Government regulations:
Governments through federal agencies including the EPA and HUD impose
regulations through the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many others that limit or erase your property rights.
State regulations:
States create urban growth boundaries and increase the cost of services beyond
those boundaries to force growth into smaller more densely populated areas .
This makes your rural property less valuable and more expensive to maintain,
diminishing your wealth.
Local planning:
Local zoning ordinances can infringe upon your property rights and increase the
costs of ownership rendering your property less desirable and therefore less valuable when you go to sell it or borrow money against it.
Conservation easements:
Some farmers sell the development rights to their property to a government
agency or land trust in exchange for cash or tax benefits. These are called conservation easements. While they appear good at first, the landowner becomes subPage 34

servient to the trust, must obey shifting regulations, and enhanced best practices
mandated by the new development rights holder. Often these practices become
too costly, forcing the landowner to sell their property, often to the same agency
or land trust that purchased the conservation easement in the first place.
Federal grant money:
While grant money from the EPA, HUD and DOT can be enticing, it frequently
comes with strings attached that mandate how the money will be used and, in
turn, how it can control your community and your property.
Regionalization:
Regionalization rolls up your community into a larger regional planning area
that shrinks your influence over what regulations are passed and reduces the
authority of local public officials to act on your behalf to protect your property
rights.
Does this mean all planning and zoning regulations are bad?
No. It means many plans contain regulations that can be damaging to your
property rights. Also, some officials agree to regional, rather than local planning.
Good planning does not have to mean the loss of property rights.
How can I protect my property rights from poor planning and regionalization?
Understand that most officials do not want to steal your property rights. In the
zeal to go sustainable, many people look at the environment, the region and the
globe first and your property rights last.
If regionalization is proposed, read all information and find out what happens
to local authority once the region is formed. Check how many unelected bureaucrats become the real decision-makers. Regardless of the colorful sales bulletins
and friendly environmental talk, regional planning trumps the rights of local
citizens. Local rule is the only way to protect personal property rights.
Recognize that planners, even those from federal agencies, are in your community to sell a plan. They will present vivid before and after pictures of your
community that will compel you to want to act right away. Dont. If the plan is
that good, it will wait. Most plans end up looking very similar. While nearly all
planners talk about public agreement, the reality is 97-99% of citizens are never
involved in the planning process. Their property rights are still affected.
Most importantly, insist that any planners working for your community must
sign an agreement committing them to protect your property rights during the
planning process. In the event there are infringements on your property rights,
they must inform you and offer you the opportunity to opt out.
Page 35

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