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Statement by Tom DeWeese
April 28, 2004
San Francisco
I have been asked to talk to you today about the current political climate and how it may affect your businesses.
Most in this position would take your time perhaps talking about the latest edicts from Alan Greenspan – or the effects the tax code will have on future revenues.
Well, you can hear those presentations at another time.
Because today I’m going to talk to you about what I believe to be the long term issues affecting perhaps the very existence of your businesses.
I have spent most of the past 12 years studying every facet of a new political agenda that is fast becoming a revolution - touching every aspect of our businesses, our public education system, our personal property and our individual lives.
Interestingly, it is not a Republican or Democrat issue. It’s not liberal or conservative. It’s purely bi-partisan.
I’m sure you’re familiar with the term "corporate social responsibility." Some of you may deal with it on a regular basis.
The policies behind today’s interpretation of corporate social responsibility are actually from a much broader policy called Sustainable Development.
Now most people immediately equate Sustainable Development with environmental policy. And that is the reason most often given for its implementation.
Land use control is the heart of Sustainable Development policy. - But accepting the perception that Sustainable Development is simply good environmental stewardship is a serious mistake.
The logo of Sustainable Development depicts three interlocking circles. One is labeled ecological integrity. But the other two are social equity and economic prosperity.
That sounds innocent enough, but in truth, these three categories encompass every aspect of our lives.
So what is Sustainable Development?
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 everything you eat, what you wear, the kind of homes you live in, the method of transportation used to get to work, the way you dispose of waste, perhaps the number of children you may have, even your education and employment decisions.
Sustainable Development is that "ruling principle" for the implementation of what former Vice President Al Gore said we must all suffer through in order to purify our nation from the horrors of the Twentieth Century’s industrial revolution.
In his book, "Earth in the Balance," Gore called it a "wrenching transformation of society."
Those are pretty powerful words that should concern anyone trying to run a business in our modern world. It’s a warning that the rules are changing. That a new power elite is taking control.
Perhaps you are beginning to notice such changes as you go about your daily routine – but haven’t understood where those changes, and the ideas behind them, are coming from.
There are Sustainable Development papers, guidelines and regulations to impose the ruling principle:
On our public education system – to prepare our children to live in a sustainable world.
On our economy – to create partnerships between business and government, making sure business becomes a tool to help implement the policies.
On the environment – leading to controls on private property and business.
On health care – the new drive against obesity is leading directly toward controls on what we eat.
On farming – Sustainable Development policies effect farmers ability to produce more crops by regulating precious chemicals, biotechnology and genetic engineering in the name of environmental protection.
On our social and cultural environment – where political correctness is controlling policy hiring practices, immigration policy, multiculturalism, marriage laws, etc.
On our mobility – with emphasis on car pools and public transportation.
And on public safety – where the rule of law and the court system is being challenged by new regulations that effect the right to privacy and unreasonable search and seizures.
It’s important to understand that these leading issues we face today are not just random concerns that find their way into the forefront of political debate. They are all interconnected to the policies of Sustainable Development.
To quote a special Sustainable Development document prepared by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): "A new ecologically balanced economics will drive the pursuit of Community Sustainability within modern society’s all encompassing urban-rural industrial civilization….This global marketplace is destined to recast the meanings of industry, work, play, health, agriculture, communications, learning and much more."
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.
All Sustainable Development policy is built on 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.
Truly, Sustainable Development is designed to change our way of life.
If your job calls for dealing with government on any level, perhaps you’ve also noticed that there are more layers and more players to deal with.
You may have found layers of non-elected regional governments and governing councils enforcing policy. You may have attended such meetings and encountered powerful new voices coming from members of private organizations, now empowered with making and enforcing policy.
They’re called NGO’s or non-governmental organizations like the Sierra Club or the Nature Conservancy or any number of local or affiliated activist groups.
Why do they have such influence over the daily interactions between government and private business? - Because of the "social equity" part of the Sustainable Development package.
They call themselves "stakeholders" and assert that any group that has an interest in, or could be affected by, a corporate decision – or the outcome of a public policy debate – has a right to pressure the decision makers until they give in to their demands.
In other words, they are striving to become a new ruling elite with which you must deal to get anything accomplished.
As these policies are implemented, locally-elected officials are actually losing power and decision-making ability in their own communities.
Most decisions are now made behind the scenes in non-elected "sustainability councils" armed with truckloads of federal regulations, guidelines and grant money.
In fact, a recent study reported that elected city councils and commissioners have lost approximately 10% of their legislative power during the past 10 years, while, through the consensus process, NGO power has increased by as much as 300%.
It is a wrenching transformation, indeed.
For example, according to Sustainable Development polices, air conditioning, convenience stores, single family housing, and cars are among the products that have already been determined to be unsustainable.
Add to that ski runs, grazing of live stock, plowing of fields, logging, dams and reservoirs and power line construction, and you can get the full picture of America under Sustainable Development.
Being aware of this root agenda for Sustainable Development will help you better understand actions by the government and those mysterious private organizations often found sitting with them at the table. Their decisions directly effect you and your business.
Sustainable Development is the official policy of the federal government. It is now the official policy of every state and almost every city and small burg and town in the nation.
I’m sure you’ve seen news reports of the destruction of dams across the country. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt personally took a sledgehammer to one in New Hampshire.
The feel-good sound bite at these dam destructions is that they are freeing the rivers for the fish.
But on the Penobscot River in Maine, a local power company was just paid $25 million by the Atlantic Salmon Federation to tear down two dams. What they aren’t telling the local residents is that this action is about to cost them 10% of their electrical power.
The other thing they aren’t telling the tax payers is that much of the $25 million will come from federal and state grants set aside for Sustainable Development programs.
If you’ve tried to buy a new house lately, you may be aware of new policies over housing development in which lots are postage stamp sized and placed close to light rail train lines. This is Sustainable Development policy in action.
Roads have been narrowed in some communities, making it more difficult to travel by car. In the state of Maryland, not a single new road was on the books as highways backed up with massive traffic jams, under Sustainable Development polices implemented by former governor Parris Glendening.
Such programs are called Smart Growth, You may have heard of the term.
It basically means drawing a line around an urban center and stopping development beyond that point. Advocates of the policy paint a glorious future of beautiful cities, free of cars, where we can all shop at the local market that is within walking distance to our high rise apartment, as all people live in harmony.
Meanwhile, rural areas are to remain lush farm land without the threat of urban sprawl. Where farmers ply their trade and nature lives in happy bliss.
However, as the Wall Street Journal said recently, in practice, "Smart Growth often turns out to be pretty dumb."
The Journal goes on to say, In many communities, (Smart Growth) drives up housing prices with costly regulations and limits on new construction. Zoning regulations and local development plans effectively dictate what can be done with private property. Once-valuable land becomes locked into outmoded uses.
Valuable property is taken off the tax roles – leading to increased taxes on the remaining property.
Portland, Oregon is the Smart Growth capital of the nation. As a result the cost of homes have sky-rocketed. Homes built close together next to light rail train stations go unsold. Streets narrowed in anticipation of the elimination of cars are now almost unusable and dangerous. In short, a lot of people in Portland are pretty miserable in their utopia.
Literature for the Smart Growth plan openly advocates the creation of specific human habitat areas – out of the suburbs and our beautiful yard and into crowded cities and high rises.
You see, they use the term "human habitat" because they equate us with bears and wolves.
The plan calls for the down-sizing of cites and towns into new "urban clusters" where workplaces, housing and nature are blended together.
According to specific federal government guidelines, homes and communities, set up in specific human habitat areas will be crowded, multifamily, low rise residential areas with running and walking paths instead of cars. Transportation will be primarily light rail trains and bicycles.
As one Smart Growth advocate gleefully said, "It will be the humans in cages and the animals looking in."
The second major prong of Sustainable Development is called the Wildlands Project. As Smart Growth is the policy for cities, the Wildlands project is for rural areas.
The Wildlands Project isn’t discussed much in public but the plan calls for the "re-wilding" of 50% of all the land in every state – restoring everything back to the way it was before Christopher Columbus stepped foot on the continent.
In other words, it calls for the elimination of human presence on over 50% of the American landscape.
It’s the most radical idea ever conceived in the community of man. And yet, Wildlands policies are being implemented across this country.
It was first conceived in the minds of Sierra Club leaders like Dave Foreman, the man who founded Earth First.
In the Wildlands Project documents Foreman said, "We live to see the day when Grizzlies in Mexico have and unbroken connection to Grizzlies in Alaska; when Gray wolf populations are continuous from New Mexico to Greenland; when vast, unbroken forests and flowing plains again thrive and support pre-Columbian populations of plants and animals…"
In such a vision, there is little room for people.
Earth First Journal goes on to say, "Does all of this mean that…the Wildlands Project advocates the end of industrial civilization? Most assuredly."
Some followers of Foreman’s ideas now burn down housing construction sites; destroy heavy equipment owned by timber companies and set fire to Hummer dealerships.
Reed Noss, one of the authors of the Wildlands Project, and later a policy expert in the Clinton Department of Interior, said, "The native ecosystems and the collective needs of non-human species must take precedence over the needs and desires of humans."
To understand what Al Gore meant by a wrenching transformation of society – you must understand the mentality of those who are implementing it.
We are not just talking about feel good environmental protection here.
This is admittedly pretty crazy stuff. And I assure you, If I hadn’t spent the past 12 years dealing with it on a daily basis I would join you in thinking I may be nuts.
The natural question is where do these ideas come from. And why would they be official U.S. government policy?
Though these policies have been festering at the international level for several decades, they came to the forefront in 1992 at the UN’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Here, two major treaties were presented. One was called the Biodiversity Treaty, the other, Agenda 21.
Here is a quote from the Biodiversity treaty: "Nature has an integral set of different values (cultural, spiritual and material) where humans are one strand in nature’s web and all living creatures are considered equal. Therefore the natural way is right and human activities should be molded along nature’s rhythms."
This quote lays down the ground rules for the entire Sustainable Development philosophy.
- Humans are nothing special – just one strand in the nature of things.
Where else have we heard this sentiment? The Wildlands Project.
In fact, the Wildlands Project is actually the root of the Biodiversity Treaty.
The treaty calls for vast amounts of core reserves of the American landscape to be shut off from any human activity. 242 million acres for grizzly bears. 200 million acres for wolverines. 100 million for wolves. And it goes on and on.
All roads in such core reserves would be closed. Millions of Americans would be displaced; moved off of their private property.
The second treaty from the Earth Summit was Agenda 21. This treaty actually defines what Sustainable Development is and provides detailed instructions on how it is to be implemented.
Here are just a few of the titles of chapters in the Agenda 21 document to show how all-encompassing is its reach:
Global action for women. Strengthening workers and trade unions. The role of business and industry. Transfer of technology. The role of farmers. Changing consumption patterns. Human settlements. Integrating environment and development in decision making.
This in not an environmental policy. It is an all-encompassing blueprint to create an all-powerful central government.
Now how does this affect you?
From these two treaties an international agenda is being put in place to create policy for national, state and local governments.
The driving force for the agenda are the United Nations Environmental Program and the International Union of Conservation and Nature.
Would is surprise you to learn that six agencies of the United States government are active members of these two groups, including the Departments of State, Interior, Agriculture and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
As active members they participate in creating and implementing policy.
Since the Earth Summit in 1992, there has been a series of international meetings attended by government agencies and NGO’s to write Sustainable Development policy.
In 1996, in Istanbul, Turkey, the guidelines for housing were created. A special report written by our own Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), calls for "remapping modern society’s new Third Millennium reality." Another way of saying wrenching transformation.
** In the packets I’ve enclosed a copy of an original draft of the document that was presented to this conference by our own Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
As I mentioned, the report goes on to say; "This global marketplace is destined to recast the meanings of industry, work, play, health, agriculture, communications, learning and much more."
Throughout all of the treaties, agreements, meetings and visioning statements there grows an interlocking web of policy that takes root in America through these federal agencies, then driving down into state and local community governments.
Now you may think that those supporting such radical changes in American society are just a fringe element with little voice.
** Oxen Picture
In your packets I have enclosed a photo. Take a good look at it. That’s right they’re Oxen. This AP photo was taken at a demonstration to show the "ecological advantages" of animal-driven farm equipment.
Now this wasn’t a demonstration put on by some fringe, deep ecology radicals. This was held at an AG expo at Michigan State University – paid for with your tax dollars.
This is official Sustainable Development policy advocating that the American farm industry go back to the days of Daniel Boone.
There are more than 12,000 organizations in the United States currently pressuring all levels of government to implement the Sustainable Development agenda.
Some lobby Congress, some serve on federal, state and local advisory boards and regional governments, helping to draft and enforce new regulations.
More act as pressure groups and outside agitators, filing law suits or intimidating opposition. Still more have taken up violent tactics, burning buildings, destroying equipment, even threatening employees of companies they deem to be enemies of the environment.
They are rich, powerful and relentless. There is no compromise for them. There is only the agenda.
Many businesses and foundations see the leadership of environmental groups as powerful political leaders. So they cultivate their trust and friendship with their checkbooks, hoping to assure an ally and political partner.
And so the agenda moves forward.
Amazingly, there has never been a single vote or floor debate on Sustainable Development policy in Congress.
It’s being done through cleverly arranged wording of existing programs and budgets, using UN treaties as guidelines. It’s all being done under the radar.
Former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown told a meeting of the Presidents’ Council on Sustainable Development that his agency could implement at least 67% of the Sustainable Development agenda with no new legislation.
So how does Sustainable Development operate in our communities? How does it effect business and families?
If you will bear with me for a few minutes I will take you through a scenario that will, I think, give you an understanding. Admittedly it is a very simplified example – But I think it makes the point.
Here’s how Sustainable Development works.
Your community is now a sustainable community.
Here is the definition of a sustainable community from the Report of the President’s Council on sustainable Development:
"Sustainable Communities encourage people to work together to create healthy communities where natural resources and historic resources are preserved, jobs are available, sprawl is contained, neighborhoods are secure, education is lifelong, transportation and health care are accessible, and all citizens have opportunities to improve the quality of their lives."
Now break it down. How do you actually achieve these goals?
How do the people work together? We need some sort of committee or council to join. One that will set a vision for the city.
We need all of the leaders, from elected officials to educators, to business leaders, to the local chamber of commerce to the loca news media. They will put a plan together for the future development of the community.
(By the way, that plan isn’t really written by the committee. The blue print will come out of Washington, backed with federal grants for those who comply).
Now, to see that the committee can really achieve its goals, it needs to have some teeth. We need a partnership between the committee and government. A plan will be drawn up and it will be the legislation guideline for laws and regulations.
To give our plan the appearance that it is legitimately accepted by all in the community, we will hold a series of public meetings to give a general overview of how we want to make the community a better place for everyone.
Of course, no votes will be taken. There will be no debates. Dissenters will be silenced because that would be divisive to our good works.
It’s important that we hire a professionally trained facilitator who will guide our citizens to the proper outcome – a community consensus to embrace our plan.
So what kind of important decisions will be in our plan for the good of us all? Key to our plan – Smart Growth.
So the Committee must control the use of private property.
It must decide what is historic and must be preserved.
It must set boundaries beyond which no new homes may be built.
It must decide how the community should look. Where open space should be. Where business can be allowed to operate.
Farmers must be stopped from selling their land to developers – even if our economic policies make it impossible to earn a living on the farm.
We’ll just take taxpayer dollars and give it to the farmers to buy out their development rights, commonly known as PDR’s. That way the land will forever be controlled by the government.
Cars are a very nasty habit. We must teach our community that everyone should be more open to public transportation. We must build light rail trains and bus lines to get us around to our jobs.
And to make it convenient for everyone, we’ll design housing developments around the rail and bus lines so they are within walking distance for everyone.
We’ll surround the community with bike paths and high density real estate policies that restrict development. We’ll narrow streets and refrain from building unnecessary roads to discourage use of cars.
In fact, eventually, our plan calls for eliminating cars from the community and that will relieve over-crowded streets.
Our homes can be designed in high and low-rise buildings with office space on top floors and stores on the main floor, with our apartments sandwiched in between. We’ll never have to leave the building during our daily routine.
So we don’t need yards that have to be mowed with smelly, gas-guzzling, air-polluting, noise-polluting mowers.
We’ll just provide parks and other open green space for the people to find recreation.
Of course with our low and high rise public housing, single family homes that waste precious land won’t be necessary.
We’ll strictly control the use and development of utilities like power - and natural resources like water.
To protect water resources we must insist that our citizens severely restrict their own water use. Ten gallons a day, per person, seems about right.
The committee will actively seek to bring in business to the community to provide jobs for our people. But we only want certain businesses here.
We won’t accept those who lack the proper environmental attitudes. They will either comply or be banned from operating in our town.
If we don’t have enough jobs, we’ll tax the businesses to raise the necessary funds to help those who don’t have one. Social equity is key to our committee’s plan.
People must have homes and medical care and food. It’s the duty of those who have money to help those who don’t, especially the businesses, which are so rich.
But we must do more. The vision can’t become reality unless the people in the community have the proper respect for the plan.
They must have the right attitudes, values and beliefs in order to support what the good folks on the committee are trying to do for the common good of us all.
One place to start is in the schools. Here are our future generations. It’s not as important that they can read and write and perform math problems as it is to understand the importance of living together with your neighbors in a happy, prosperous, safe, well organized community.
They can learn the basic academics on their own. But it’s vital that they understand our goals.
So let’s add some classes to help them obtain the proper outlook for the future.
Teach them that they must work together rather than selfishly setting personal goals.
Teach them that our community only needs certain kinds of workers to help the program along.
Help them select career paths that fit the needs of the community.
Help them understand that personal wants and dreams and ambitions are selfish and will only hurt everyone’s future.
How best to teach them these things? Businesses know how to organize. Let’s form a partnership with businesses to help the children learn about work, right there in the school.
In fact, we can even let the children take half of each school day to go to the job as a volunteer. To make sure that everyone participates, we’ll make it part of their grade.
And to make sure that they always keep the valuable lessons and don’t stray from the special teachings they learned in the school to work partnership, let’s keep their education going for life.
We’ll require that they come back for refresher courses periodically throughout their lives. To protect our sustainable community we’ve got to make sure everyone maintains the proper attitudes, values and beliefs.
To make sure that they do attend life-long learning classes we’ll use that partnership with business as an on-the-job incentive. That way, life-long learning can lead to better jobs and better pay. It’s all very organized.
For the adults, there can be public visioning classes for them, too. After all, we can’t fully organize the community around our grand idea if there is resistance from some of the people. That will spoil all of our great plans for the health and security of the community.
So, again, with our business partnerships, and with the help of the Chamber of Commerce, and the schools, we’ll work with the folks on a neighborhood basis.
Neighborhood by neighborhood, we’ll bring the folks in, teach them how important it is to protect the environment and how evil sprawl can be to our well-laid plans.
And once we have helped them obtain the proper attitudes, values and beliefs, we can set up some life-long learning classes and business partnerships for adults too.
There are other things that the committee will find necessary to ban – in order to assure that the citizens have the opportunity to improve their lives.
Obesity is a national epidemic. We must also control what people eat. Our plan will make sure that they eat properly.
That’s why we can’t allow precious farm land in our county to be wasted on raising cattle for beef consumption. Beef is harmful to your health, so it will be banned. Wheat and soy will be grown on that land instead.
Ever had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner of tofurkey?
With our new healthy diet, as outlined by the committee, we will no longer need things like 7-11’s and McDonalds and their unhealthy fast foods and snacks. They will be banned.
There is one more danger to the happiness and security of our community that must be addressed – overpopulation. The committee will decide the proper number of folks who can comfortably live in our community limits.
If we don’t control the population, we will be overrun. Some strict guidelines must be imposed, for the sake of the community’s well being and for the protection of our environment.
Birth control education and supplies will be a major part of the process for keeping the population down.
But if our folks don’t heed the committee’s warnings, if the population begins to exceed our limits, drastic action will be required.
Limits on the number of children a family may have will have to be imposed. Those conceiving children against those limits will have to pay a high price.
Fines, of course. Imprisonment for exceptional cases. Now, what to do about those yet unborn, but illegal babies…? Action must be taken, for the sake of all of us in the community.
Do you understand where we are headed, my friends?
Name the issue – name the aspect of your life that is not affected by such a mentality.
All of this, and much more is the future under Sustainable Development. This is not about "preserving the environment for future generations."
It’s indeed a wrenching transformation of America – away from a nation of well protected liberties – to one of all-controlling regulations and central planning.
I understand that this example may sound over simplified. But I work everyday with people across the country who deal with each and every one of these examples.
Let me take one major point from my example. An issue that some of you may be involved in through your work.
The School to Work program with its Workforce Development Boards.
This is a program that is sold as an alternative to college. After all, goes the mantra, we can’t all go to college. And of course, that’s true.
So the School to Work program has been sold as a way for the other kids to move ahead.
The problem is, all of the schools in the nation are now moving toward school-to work for ALL children.
Training programs are replacing academic instruction.
Workforce Development Boards are being set up to determine what kinds of workers will be needed in the future and what kind of curriculum will be necessary to create those workers.
Now, the Workforce Development Boards are manned by business leaders. The theory is that they will know how to make intelligent decisions about future business needs.
The Republicans like to think that such a partnership is a pro business approach.
But I ask you to consider this. How can anyone know what needs lie ahead?
One tiny new development can change everything.
For example, I’m currently writing a book on the life of Thomas Edison.
Now, think back, if you will, to America 100 years ago – before much of Edison’s work was implemented – before Henry Ford began to mass-produce the automobile – before the Wright Brothers had succeeded in their quest for manned flight.
Now imagine turn of the century America with its future so bright – with a School to Work program in place.
Some of the leading industries of that day included farming and the manufacturing of Whale oil and buggy whips.
And the captains of those industries would surely have been chosen to sit on the local Workforce Development Boards. In that position, these keepers of current-day commerce would be given the power to dictate school curriculum to produce the workers of the future.
Then,, as now, it would be sold as a perfect partnership between school and industry – and between government bureaucrats and the private sector.
These would be the leading businessmen. Their industries had survived for centuries. They had proven that they knew what was best for the country and what was needed for the future.
What could be better for the country’s well being than to put then in charge of the curriculum that would train the children in the skills needed for strong, solid jobs for the future?
The jobs that all businessmen knew were needed. The jobs that had always been there.
Henry Ford? Orville and Wilber Wright? Never heard of them.
Isn’t it ironic that, in 1899, on the verge of the greatest explosion of technology the world had ever known, another far-sighted bureaucrat named Charles H, Duell put forth a proposal to close the U.S. Patent office.
Said Mr. Duell, "Everything that can be invented has been invented." He had never heard of Henry Ford or the Wright Brothers either.
The man could have been a pundit on CNN. He was expressing his expert opinion based on what he knew to be true of his world at the time. And had School-to-Work been firmly in place – he may have been right.
Luckily, none of those things happened 100 years ago. America went on to lead the world in advancement of technology and medicine – giving our nation the highest standard of living in the world.
Edison, Ford and the Wright Brothers fulfilled their dreams. New industries were born. Once unheard of luxuries now belong to those even on the lowest economic levels.
All created by individuals who were free to think, free to choose and free to undertake their dreams and ideas – on their own! .
But now, as we stand at the beginning of a new millennium – as we stand on the threshold of vast technological breakthroughs – our elected leaders have the arrogance to install a School-to-Work law that empowers today’s captains of industry to lock in the minds of America’s students to current needs.
Sustainble Development’s entire process is for government to form partnerships with today’s leading businesses so that the perfect workers will be produced to manufacture IBM’s modern-day buggy whips and Exxon’s whale oil.
The very idea that these government leaders believe they can create a central management process that can out-guess and pre-suppose invention, technology and development by putting it in the hands of current business leaders is every bit as ridiculous as the scenario of having done it a hundred years ago.
Where will the future Edison’s come from? Where will be the room for dreamers like the Wright Brothers? Where will be the opportunity for the visions of Henry Ford?
All that is needed to fix the education system is to go back to teaching academics so that young Americans can fit into any setting in any business.
Training them for a job instead will stifle them and destroy their ability to even understand the concept of being independent thinkers like Edison and Ford and The Wright Brothers.
And that’s just the point.
All the current education system is good for is to produce workers for a centrally planned economy like Sustainable Development.
If you think that’s harsh or over simplified, let me give you these quotes from some of the very people who created America’s School to Work system.
"Most employees under this model need not be educated. It is far more important that they be reliable, steady, and willing to follow directions." Lauren Resnick, Member of the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.
"…educated employees have higher turnover rates, lower job satisfaction, and poorer promotion records than less educated employees." David Hornbeck.
Such is education under Sustainable Development.
And the business atmosphere under Sustainable Development is just as much a concern.
At the beginning I mentioned the term Corporate Social Responsibility. Let me spend a little time on that.
The concept isn’t new.
The idea is that corporations must not conduct their affairs merely to achieve profits for their stockholders – or even to just provide products and services for their customers.
According to the doctrine, businesses must also help further the "well-being of society." You know, "like a good neighbor, State Farm is there."
To most of you it means treating your customers, employees and suppliers with respect and integrity, while making sure you aren’t damaging the environment.
It’s just good business.
But something new, something sinister has begun to take control of the debate over just what is corporate social responsibility.
As Niger Innis, president of the Congress on Racial Equality, points out, the ideological environmental movement is a powerful $4 billion-a year U.S. industry. On the international level its an $8 billion –a –year gorilla.
Many of its members are intensely eco-centric, and place much higher value on wildlife and ecological values than on human progress or even human life.
They have a deep fear and loathing of big business, technology, chemicals, plastics, fossil fuels and biotechnology.
And they insist that the rest of the world should acknowledge and live according to their fears and ideologies.
They are masters at using junk science, scare tactics, intimidation and bogus economic and health claims to gain even greater power.
These people, with their radical political agenda as I have outlined throughout my remarks, are now succeeding in taking control of the Corporate Social Responsibility blueprint.
As I said earlier, they assert the right to dictate corporate social responsibility by declaring themselves stakeholders, even though their only stake is philosophical.
They place ever increasing demands on business to take ever more radical measures in the name of protecting the environment or in the name of social equity.
Products have been banned. Even whole industries have been destroyed.
Just to give you one example of the power of this force tied to Sustainable Development policies is an incident that recently took place in Ireland.
There, McDonalds applied to build a new restaurant in a community. The government demanded an environmental impact study for the project.
Now, that’s not so unusual. Only this environmental study wasn’t concerning the building of the restaurant.
Rather, It was to study the effects of the food to be served on the health of the residents of the community.
McDonalds has been beaten to a pulp over the issue of obesity, human health and animal rights.
Many times these issues begin as what appears to be completely absurd press releases by completely obscure fringe groups.
But businesses must not ignore the source of there rantings.
As I have shown you, there is an international agenda driving these policies.
Once you begin to give sanction to small demands in an attempt to put on a good face – the bar will be continually raised until you become merely a tool for a political agenda that is in direct opposition to your ability to stay in business.
Granting their unreasonable demands leads to their taking control. You will be left with no running room as they continue to up the ante. Winning small victories does not satisfy them.
That is the only true result that can come from government/ business partnerships.
In such a system some businesses receive favors from the power elite while others are scorned. Friends in high places become the driving force instead of loyal customers in a free market.
Government answers to the current power elite. Government has the power to put you out of business if it so desires. Businesses which don’t play ball are shut out of the process, left to fail.
You’ll spend more time trying to satisfy the government and non-elected NGO’s than taking care of your customers.
Sustainable Development is quickly leading to that system.
And there is one more consequence of this process that is worth discussing.
This new paradigm of government/business partnerships is being expanded into very dangerous territory.
National emergencies (perceived or real) have always aided the agendas of those who seek to control and expand the power of government.
Now, with the precedents of government/business partnerships and corporate social responsibilities firmly entrenched as being the proper arrangement, the threat of terrorism has become a convenient excuse to invade personal privacy using corporate records.
In the name of fighting terrorism the U.S. Congress passed – virtually unread, the Patriot Act just weeks after the 9/11 attacks.
Congressman Ron Paul said he can find virtually no one in Congress, save a few staffers who ever read the bill. In fact, it wasn’t even printed until after passage.
Yet this bill contains some of the most sweeping invasions by government in the history of the nation.
I won’t go into all of the ways it is being used to invade personal privacy through computer searches, home invasions surveillance without a search warrant. But I’ll tell you this, I now use my Onstar in my car with more caution because of new FBI tactics.
Let me just say a few words concerning issues that may effect several of you directly.
The Patriot Act is now being used to investigate money laundering. These investigations are not necessarily connected to known terrorists.
But the provisions that allow federal agents to obtain records without due process are opening up all kinds of opportunities.
And you are the ones who will have to pay the price by being forced to open up your records – records that you may have promised your customers were secure.
Bert Ely, the head of a consulting company for financial institutions, says the new anti-money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act will do nothing to stop the financing of international terrorists.
At best, he said, the new provisions will actually provide evil doers with a road map to avoid detection.
What the provisions are really about, says Ely, is to have the United States fall into line with an international campaign being waged by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development - and the Financial Action Task Force against countries that serve as tax havens.
It’s all about tax collection.
Again, regulations are being applied in the name of fighting terrorism but are really about a different agenda.
Business Week also reported that private sector software makers are racing to develop programs to zero in on gambling. Business Week noted that "the feds have put casinos on notice that they’re next in the line of security."
Now I wonder how many terrorists have actually raised their funds in Las Vegas?
This past October, new provisions of the Patriot Act went into place that require fuller identification of bank customers.
A year before 9/11, my organization helped lead an outpouring of 150,000 Americans protesting these very regulations in a scheme by the FDIC called "know your customer." Americans said those provisions were too invasive of their privacy.
But now, special software will help 25 finance-related industries, covered by the law, to compare millions of customer records with thousands of entries on federal blacklists.
Businesses such as car dealers, insurance companies, investment brokers, lenders and real estate firms are now required to file "Suspicious Activity Reports" to the Treasury Department.
Remember this is all being done in the name of fighting terrorism.
One final note: last March the Justice Department announced that "accuracy" is no longer a concern for the building of one of the world’s largest databases called the National Crime Information Center (NOIC).
It seems the NCIC had been exempted from the Privacy Act of 1974 that requires information entered into government date bases to be timely, relevant, complete and accurate. Also exempt are two other Department of Justice databases, the Central Records System and the National Center for Analysis of Violent Crime.
I hope they don’t get anything wrong – or the next time you get stopped for a traffic ticket it might be some time before you are able to go home, or get money out of your bank account or use a credit card. Talk about identity theft.
Property. Liberty. The Rule of Law.
These are the founding principles of the United States of America.
We hear these terms. Yet many Americans fail to understand their meaning - or how they effect our everyday lives.
Our founding fathers warned us that eternal vigilance was necessary in order to protect our liberties. They’ve been ignored.
Property rights become land-use controls. The rule of law - morphs into dictates from a power elite.
Parents worry about a school system that no longer seems to teach basic academics.
Rules and regulations seem to pop out of nowhere to control our daily routines.
And the American dream seems to be crumbling under the weight of it.
You see, the American dream is built on optimism. It is the idea that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.
It is the promise that, in America, you have the freedom to pursue your own goals and that government will protect your right to do it.
That is the true definition of freedom.
But such a dream can’t survive if government is not forced to keep that promise. Instead, government is being used to force us into a national submissiveness.
The truth is our lives are getting more stressful and everyday living is getting harder because a revolution is taking place in this country and it is stealing the American promise of unalienable rights.
These are the rights we were born with. Rights our founding fathers said were government’s duty to protect and preserve.
Those natural rights are now being replaced with "granted rights" created by and authorized by government.
As a result, our laws have become little more than rubber bands, stretched to the advantage of the few who have gained the power of pull in the new society of American control.
People tell me that talking about the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence is old fashioned. That’s it’s naive in this modern era.
Well, I may be naïve, but I know this. For 200 years the United States has stood as a unique example to the world.
In our short history our society has surpassed those of ancient cultures – precisely because our people have been free to live their lives and our businesses have been free to engage in commerce because the government has protected our rights to do so.
Meanwhile, name a single successful centrally planned and controlled economy in which the government controls every aspect of the people’s lives.
Call me naïve but I personally believe that you can run your businesses better that faceless bureaucrats whose only knowledge of business is how to say no.
If Sustainable Development is allowed to replace our "old fashioned" Republic, then there will be no controls on the size and power of government.
Private NGO’s, with their political agenda, will become our new power elite.
The economy will no longer be controlled in a market place of ideas and honest trading, but by an "ecoligarchy" empowered by the pull of who they know.
As I said in the beginning, I was asked to tell you today of the political climate that will affect your business.
And so now I have. I’ve told you in general terms without a lot of detail. But I think you get the picture.
Our world is changing. I hope I’ve helped you prepare to face it.
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